Indoor picnics...

On nights where John has away games he gets home fairly late. He usually gets home after both boys are asleep, which means that my nights can be fairly long. If we've had a good day, then I can handle the long nights fairly well, but if we've had a long day and then are about to embark on a long night, well then I just feel a bit overwhelmed.

So, to combat my overwhelmedness, I've decided that on those particularly difficult nights, we will have an indoor picnic. I throw out our picnic blanket on the carpet, we put on a movie, and we eat dinner in the family room. It helps save my sanity a bit and hopefully it will be something that's sort of fun for the boys to do with mom while dad's away. So far these have really helped make my difficult nights alone with the boys much more enjoyable. Yeah!

My days are filled with...

...lots of playtime on the floor with this boy:



...and lots of pretend sports play with this boy (he likes to pretend that the small mounds in the front yard are his pitcher's mounds):



I love my days.

Visalia Rawhide game...

Charlie attended his first minor league baseball game last week. Visalia is really the perfect place for us to watch a game...John chased Henry around the stadium while I sat with Charlie on our picnic blanket. It doesn't get much better. Henry was obsessed with watching the pitcher & catcher warm up for the game. He kept pointing to them and copying their every move. He was upset that we didn't let him bring his bat into the game, but watching the warm-ups made him temporarily forget about his disappointment. Here are a few pictures...

Watching warm-ups...

Looking down into the visitor's bullpen...

When Henry doesn't have access to his catcher's mask (we didn't let him bring that into the game either) he likes to pull his hat down below his nose to create a make-shift mask...


Charlie's first minor league game...

Me and my boys (I should have taken a picture with John and the boys, but it just didn't happen)...

Charlie & mom...

Happy Mother's Day!

...to my mom. (& a special thanks to Henry for making me a mom!)

Henry & me...

It isn't very often that I find myself in front of the camera, and rarer still that I'm captured in the same shot as Henry. But today Denise took my camera and snapped some pictures of Henry and me for a change. It's nice to have some captured moments with my boy! Even though I've been a mom for almost a year now (how can that be?!) I am still taken aback a bit when I see photographic evidence of my new role. I still sometimes can't believe that I'm a mom, but oh am I glad that I am.

A nap with mom...

For some reason Henry decided he didn't need his afternoon nap today. I thought I'd lay down with him a bit and then move him to his crib if I got him to fall asleep. I guess I needed a nap too because this is how John found us after he got home from work...

Asleep at the table...

Dear Auntie Jill,

I really like the new outfit you gave me. Unfortunately, my mom waited too long to take a picture of me in it (it seems my diapers have some containment issues) so the shorts didn't stay on very long, but here's a picture of me in the elephant shirt. Mommy says I look good in brown. See you again soon!

-Henry

Mom & Henry...