How You Can Tell Winter is Over

Or, "How You Can Tell Andrew is Having a Growth Spurt."

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:



Exhibit C:



Now that the weather is nice, Andrew wants to spend all his free time -- and time that is not free -- outside. But I'm convinced the sidewalks in our neighborhood have a personal vendetta against him. He literally cannot go out without coming back with blood dripping from somewhere, and his knees and legs are so bruised up that I'm afraid to send him to school in shorts, or I'll get reported to the authorities.

Somehow, I don't think he minds.

T-ball

Andrew is loving t-ball. How cute are these kids?



He was all ready for business for his first at-bat. Notice the dirt on his knees. Mind you, he was the first batter of the game. He just couldn't help sliding around the field before the game started.



His first at-bat was a success -- he only swung and missed once.





It's crazy how time-intensive Little League is. I swear I get multiple emails from the league every day. They've even got Casey working at the games.



But you have to admit, the kid's got style. He obviously gets that from me.



Willa has fun at the games, too. She even made a new friend, the little sister of one of Andrew's teammates. They are almost exactly the same age, and together they are too cute for words.




As much fun as she has as a spectator, however, Willa is convinced she's a member of the team. Whenever Andrew's manager calls the team together for stretching, instructions, or after the game to hand out the game ball, Willa always runs right in with the group.

Time for a big girl bed

Disneyland

We spent my dad and Jenny's birthday at Disneyland, which was a lot of fun. It was too bad that Casey had to be back at work in Virginia.



Although she loved Disneyland, and talks about it all the time now, she spent much of the day like this. It may be an understatement to say that she's not really fond of loud noises.




One of Willa's favorite things was the carousel. She must've ridden this one a dozen times.






Just slightly less popular than the carousel was the Dumbo ride.





Andrew was beyond excited for the entire day, couldn't decide which direction to go in, and had this look on his face most of the time:



Willa was totally starstruck by the princesses (which was the longest line in the park by the way).





One of the advantages of going with Grandma and Grandpa is that you get all the churros you can eat. Look at that thing -- it's a big as she is!



We got to have dinner with a bunch of the Disney characters, which might have been the highlight of the day for Andrew and Willa. (I use the term "dinner" loosely, though; they were too excited to eat anything.)





It was a pretty good day. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Belated pics

Here are a few pictures from our recent trip to CA. It was so much fun to be with family, who we miss terribly here on the other side of the country.

May the Force be with You

Andrew had a Star Wars birthday party this year (of course). For the most part it was a normal, average five-year-old party, although it did get off to a bit of a rocky start. On the day I went to Andrew's school to pass out invitations to the kids in his class, another mom was there handing out invitations to her son's Star Wars party, to be held on the same day. We both stopped and looked at each other and kept on handing out our invitations. I went home and agonized over what to do next. I mean, what is birthday party etiquette, exactly? Obviously there couldn't actually be two parties at the same time -- actually hers was scheduled for directly after mine, but still -- but who backs down first? And even worse (for me), this kid is rich and I was imagining pony rides and jumping castles at his party. In addition, we had family coming in from out of town, so it's not like we had much leeway for rescheduling. In the end I decided to back down and move my party to Friday, instead of Saturday, which was good because the other mom "had already booked [her] moon bounce and couldn't possibly change [her] party." Ugh.

As I said, for the most part it was a normal party. Each of the guests got a Jedi tunic for their training, modeled here by Andrew and Ben. (The poses were completely their inspiration, and neither saw the other one do theirs. I love these boys.)



They played games: Rescue Princess Leia; pin the sticker on Darth Vader; Duck, Duck, Goose, Light Saber Training.




They even decorated their own cupcakes with all kinds of frosting and candy.




Now, as a mom planning a party for her son, naturally I wanted to make things extra special. You know, provide some "wow" factor, so that he can look back and remember how great his 5th birthday party was. Since this was a Star Wars-themed party, and all the kids were Jedi, I thought, "Wouldn't it be great if after the Jedi are 'trained' they get a chance to defeat their mortal enemy?" It seemed like kismet that Andrew just happened to get a Darth Vader mask for Christmas that just happened to fit Casey, and we just happened to have a red light saber. It was too perfect, right? Casey, for his part, was not so enthusiastic about dressing up and letting a bunch of kids beat him up with pool noodle-light sabers. But his sister Abbie -- who flew in with her family for the party and without whom and my sister Brenda I would never have been able to pull this thing off -- and I worked together and finally guilted him into it.

After the little Jedi finished their training,



DJ Abbie cued the Darth Vader music, signaling for Casey to make his appearance. I don't mind telling you that I was so excited I was about to jump out of my skin, anticipating the enthusiasm of the little Jedi as Darth Vader made his appearance. However, as soon as Casey turned the corner coming down the stairs, we suddenly realized that we had made a major miscalculation. I'll let the video tell the story.



Once the screaming started Abbie cut the music, Casey froze, and I had to rush two of the kids who were particularly upset out of the room. As I sat in the kitchen trying to calm down a hysterical boy, I started picturing myself having to call the parents of every kid in my son's preschool class to ask them to pick up their child early, and explain to my insurance why I was having to pay for counseling for 12 five-year-olds.

After the initial outcry, most of the kids -- Andrew included -- had this reaction:



Fortunately, kids are resilient, and few of the braver boys jumped in and wanted to fight the evil Darth Vader.

And so far no outraged parents have called to give me a piece of their mind.

So if you are planning a Star Wars party, maybe Yoda should be the surprise guest.