Happy fourth birthday Mary Alice!

Happy birthday to our lively Mary Alice!

 Today marks Mary Alice's fourth birthday.  And (unsuccessfully trying to not be too sappy) - what a wonderful four years they have been.  Mary Alice is a bright and inquisitive girl with a strong sense of justice and equally strong opinions.  When she was an infant, she possessed the sweetest, happiest, most contented disposition.  Over the years, she has morphed into an equally charming little girl, but with quite a bit more spit and fire than we anticipated during her baby years.  And we love it.

At age four, Mary Alice still loves animals more than anything in the world. Her favorites right now are cats and her pink toy frog.  When not playing with her kitty, she loves to do whatever Thomas is doing.  Even after four years, he is still her favorite person in the world - except for Spiderman, that is.

There is nothing Mary Alice likes more than being the "helper".  She will do chores all day long, as long as she is doing them with you.  She has a good eye for finding ways to help people and a truly compassionate heart.  She has really started to talk a lot (I mean A LOT) this last year.  She will chat about everything she sees and has the most extraordinary (and imaginative) ideas about what she observes.   I can't wait to see what this year brings for her.  Happy #4, kiddo!



Here's a look at how Mary Alice has grown over the years:

3 years old

2 years old

1 year old


Two months old.

Henry's birthday parties

So, here is how Henry's birthday celebration went:

Since we were going to do his big celebration on Sunday with the family, we did our usual small birthday celebration with cupcakes.

He seemed to really like the flaming candle.

A bit too much, actually.  It proved more interesting than eating the cupcake or opening presents...  kinda made me a tad worried about where we kept the matches, actually...

Here are some snapshots of the kids awaiting the start of the birthday singing:

And Dad actually blows the candle out to prevent any ER trips for the night.

But at least the cupcake was fully appreciated.

And followed by some present opening.

For his official birthday party with the family we waited till Sunday:

Henry likes two things these days (besides making lots of trouble...) : Curious George and trains.  So, Thomas and I made him a cake with both. 

Which he seemed to enjoy...

And it didn't take him too long to get the hang of opening presents, either.

Then he got down to the serious business of playing with them all.  Right away!

The Decennial Mark

 Today marks our Decennial Anniversary!

It's hard to believe this happened a decade ago. It seems both just a short while ago and forever, at the same time.

But in that time, we have added to our family...

 Thomas - in 2005

Mary Alice in 2008

and Henry in 2010

Oh, and these two in 2012.  (Don't let their cuteness fool you, they are as mischievous as the three rugrats above.)

Now its just a regular party at our house!

In all seriousness, John and I have accomplished a lot these last ten years.  We have accumulated seven degrees between the two of us.  We have visited Europe, and most of the Western United States (together, that is). We have moved twice.  Bought a home.  Spent close to a third of our marriage renovating said house.   We are actively raising (and I do emphasize the "active" part) our three wonderful and engaging children.  They have brought so much joy to our lives.  And stolen our sleep.  But we prefer to think about the joy part. We have even managed a mid-life career change that has sent John back to school for yet another degree, this time in a different city away from our little family.   We have dealt with the heartaches of deaths and job losses. And I can't remember a time when John and I have ever been closer than we are now.   Life has been good to us.

Tens years has gone so quickly, and I am sure that 20 years will come before we know it.  But if history has anything to tell us, it's gonna be a hell of a good ride (not to mention scenic... those of you who have ever traveled with John will understand what I mean).

Factoid for today:  The decennial anniversary is marked by a gift of tin or aluminum.  "Whoa... What??" Yeah, that was my reaction, too.  Seriously... tin or aluminum?  I mean, heck - 5 years will get you something made of wood.  You can usually find something pretty classy that is made of wood.  But tin or aluminum?  What are you supposed to do with that?  Random resource around the Internet point out that tin or aluminum can represent strength and flexibility at the same time, which does make it sound a bit better, but doesn't exactly drive away the initial impression of a loving couple exchanging a can of vegetables and a baseball bat.  They just don't scream the anniversary theme of "everlasting devotion" or even a simple "Darling, I am so happy to have spent the last 10 years with you."  I motion that we remove tin/aluminum from the list and make it a "Get 'em the nicest thing you can afford right now" year.  Which, in our case, would probably be some flowers... picked from the neighbors yard.  Simple, inexpensive, and at least it requires some dangerous trespassing as a test of one's devotion.

Smilin' babies

Man, I love me some smilin' babies!

Are you ready for some T-BALL !?!?

Kudos to River Heights (not our city, by the way) for putting together a fun, easy going T-ball league. 

 

 Thomas was excited to give it another go this year. 

  And the boy's got a good swing, if I do say so myself!

Since they started at age 3 for this league, we asked Mary Alice if she wanted to play with Thomas.

To which she replied: "Do I get treats?"

So, there you go.  Food IS a primal motivator.

As is a pink mitt, by the way.

And here are a few pictures of their games.  Be sure and get yourself a cold drink while you view these, cause the live action shots are going to wear you out.

 

 

 

Now, observe the progression of the Tom's interest in outfielding...

That's my boy!  When all else fails, wave to the camera!

Or socialize with the teammates.

Mary Alice wasn't too far off her brother's mark either...

 

Yep, this shot is pretty representative of Mary Alice's baseball ambitions.  But, just remember folks, her mitt IS pink.  Life is good.

Here they are lined up for batting - which is pretty boring and not something I would usually take a picture of. (As evidenced by my live-action shots above.)  However, this picture of Mary Alice in her too-big hat that she would not tilt back for anything, made for a rather humorous at-bat.

And base running.

But somehow the homeplate was the one base that Mary Alice consistently refused to touch.  Still not sure why, but it definitely made sense to her 3-year old mind.

And this is why they did it, folks...  for the glory and the treats and the..

TROPHIES!!

Thomas is very proud of his first-ever trophy.  Now he is officially like Dad, who has Little League Trophies that Tom has envied for years.  He is a happy little man now.

And last, (but not least!), here's just a few shots of the Henry-meister, who desperately wanted to play ball with the big kids, but had to settle for entertaining himself by making breaks for the road and having his mom chase him.  Which is also fun... for him.