April Happenings: hugs, skateboards, and superheros!

April was spent dealing with bipolar weather as we anxiously awaited Spring to arrive. Some days were gorgeous while others were freezing. It was strange to pack up the snow clothes and play outside in short-sleeves, only to break out the gloves and hats the next day. This whole winter has been crazy.

We stayed busy--Lance with school, baseball, Clay classes, and Spanish tutoring; me with four kids at home; and George with work and trying to figure out his long-term plans. Should he do a research fellowship and stay on at UVa as an Attending or start working in a year at a private hospital?

Here's an idea of what daily life held for us in the month of April:

Lots of hugs and holding:

Jude LOVES Lily and constantly tries to play with her (even when she's asleep), although he can be pretty rough. I'm not sure why "She's a baby" is a hard concept for him, but it is. He'll grab her arms, laughing loudly in her face and try to get her to play with him. It's really REALLY cute and really REALLY frustrating. I have to keep reminding myself that one day Lily will be bigger and will want to play that way. Until then, I'm her private bodyguard against the overflowing love this little boy has for his baby sister.

Cole's favorite thing to do is to walk up to Lily, snuggle his head next to hers and say, "Baby Lily. I love her." Melts my heart every time. He's good about being gentle and mostly just tries to cuddle her.

One day during Lance's Spring Break that he spent with his dad, George was working nights so I took the three little kiddies and visited my mom for a couple days.

Getting to take a bubble bath in Grandma's huge tub is the best!

Grand and Mason were there, too, so we snapped this picture to send to Uncle Jason in Brazil:

More snuggles:

At 3 months old, Lily is really engaging. She smiles and laughs and will try to get you to pick her up. It's so cute. I'll put her in her bumbo seat while I wash dishes or cook dinner and she just watches intently while she plays with her toes. She's becoming a little person and I love it!

These boys are crazy! They found a couple old trash bags and decided to turn them into a fashion statement.

Can you tell these boys love their sister?

Cole. Cole is such a character. I love this age--every day is an adventure and everything is amazing to them. Cole's current obsessions are hero capes, Ninja Turtles and trains. When you combine a couple, you get something too awesome for words:

And yes, most days he does walk around dressed like this.

If he's not spending hours inside rolling his trains back and forth on little tracks he builds, he's spending hours outside just wandering around, playing at the park, or sitting in the play car by our back door.

This little boy just brings sunshine to my heart.

Lance practices baseball at the field right next to our friends the Elmers. One day after a baseball game, we hung out for a bit and played outside. Killian and his buddy broke out their skateboards and all the boys had a good time skating up and down the street (or, as in the case of Lance and Jude, rolling...). I was trying to work on my fixed lens skills, so I got out the camera and practiced taking action shots of the kids, just to see if I could.

This makes me want to live in a neighborhood so badly:

And if you haven't had enough of Cole being Cole, here are a few more of him playing at the park one day.

Oh, sweet boy!

During April we all came down with a really strange illness--low grade fevers off and on for several days. Most of us just had the fevers and then a runny nose, but Cole won the virus lottery and his virus was manifested in an amazing full-body rash.

Didn't seem to bother him and it cleared in a couple days. I think I'd take the rash over the fevers.

We're doing well down here in Charlottesville as we adjust to being a family of six. Lily brings so much happiness to out home--I can't imagine life without her!

"There's no crying in baseball!"

A League of Their Own. Such a great movie. And like Tom Hanks' character states at one point, there really IS no crying in baseball. At least not for Lance. He loves it. Which is a pretty big deal since he's hated every other sport we've tried. I'm crossing my fingers this "love of the game" lasts.

This is the first year Lance has done this and is on a team with kids from 6-8 years old. He's one of the oldest, but I think it's a perfect fit. They do machine pitches from the mound, but if the kid strikes out, he gets soft-tosses from the coach until the player makes contact (although that will change mid-season when they get rid of the soft-toss).

Baseball at this age is a little bit... slow. Super cute, but just a bit slow. There's a lot of waiting around especially when your team is up to bat and your kiddo is waiting their turn to bat.

So, there's a lot of this:

Lance up to bat!

A couple games ago the coach started playing Lance as catcher and he really likes it! George was catcher, too, so Lance will get some good pointers.

Isn't he just so cute?

Waiting to bat:

On deck:

George took Jude and Cole for a walk along a path that went through the forest for part of the game to get their wiggles out.

Up to bat!

(Notice George and Scott in the background...)

First base!

The second time he was up to bat, he struck out a couple times then made great contact with the ball, sending it way into the outfield. He was so surprised he just stood there for a few seconds and watch the ball fly away before the shouts of "RUN!" registered and he ran toward 1st. Too bad someone caught the ball. It was a great hit. :)

Lance has a great coach and is picking up the skills fairly quickly. I'm hoping he sticks with this sport for at least a few years to come!