Sunny Saturday

Well it's only the beginning of March and already our weather here in the PNW has been glorious!! We've had several sunny days!! When it's nice out I like to get Lilly outside and play not matter what it is we do!!!!!

Today was another one of those beautiful sunny days and since were hanging out at my parent's house while Sean was at his test we had all kinds of stuff we could do!

We started out the day playing a little T-ball in the front yard. This is quickly becoming one of Lilly's favorite activites! I have to say she's getting pretty good!! Her hitting is pretty good, and she's got an arm on her! We've just go to work on the catching the ball in the glove thing, but we'll get there! I also taught her some basic baserunning, for example if you're on first and the ball gets hit where do you go and she figured that out pretty quickly - I'm glad she's such a smart cookie!

After baseball Papa was going to wash Gramma's car and Lilly wanted to help. So the 2 of them spent some time making sure Gramma's car was all sparkly clean! She had a great time with that.

Once the car was all clean I fixed Lilly her lunch and let her eat it outside in the sunshine, something we did a lot of last Summer and she LOVES!!!!!

Lilly finished her lunch and hung out with Papa some more before her nap and then Mom and I went one our daily walk and enjoyed the sunshine!!!

We ended our day celebrating Anne's 65th birthday with the Varsity @ Dick & Kay's. The party I kid you not was planned in record time last weekend with my Mom & Kay calling the Varsity and I was in charge of rallying the JV! It was such a fun night! I got to spend a lot of time with my fellow JVers as well as time with the Varsity! Such a wonderful group and so awesome that they've all been friends for 20+ years now! Sean, Lilly, & I stayed until 11:30.

I love simple days like today. I am so grateful for my great family, especially my wonderful daughter! Just spending time with her is one of my greatest joys in life. I also love being able to just hang out over at my parent's house all day (their yard is bigger and more fun to play in!). Then ending the night with all these people that I've known and loved for most of my life just makes me smile!

Hit, Drop, Run

Hit, Drop, Run - sounds simple right?
In preparation for the upcoming T-ball season Lilly and I have been spending quite a bit of time outside learning the basics. Already she can hit and throw the ball quite well - we're still working on catching.
Today while we were outside it occured to me great, she can hit the ball but does she know what to do next. Of course this is just something I kinda took for granted having played many years of softball and of course being an avid baseball fan and watching my fair share of games.
So today's big T-ball lesson was Hit (the ball), Drop (the bat), and Run (to first (our first base was a dust pan, but you get the idea)).
So after we got our home plate and first base positioned just right we began practicing this little drill. First I showed her what I meant when I said Hit, Drop, Run. She then tells me ok Mom I got it!
Not quite, she hit the ball, thought about it for a minute, dropped the bat, and then started running. I'm sure you're thinking that sure sounds like she's got it to me. Well she started running toward the ball that she had just hit. Not exactly the goal. It was extremely hard to keep a straight face because it was so the stereotypical first time base-runner scenerio and here it was in my own front yard. Not wanting to laugh at her and discourage her I managed not to laugh and explain to her what she needed to do one more time.
So back to the T we went and after we checked our feet position, hand position, shoulder position, and gave the ball a good stare down we were ready to try again. I stood back held my breath and watched as she hit the ball, paused for a second, and took of toward first base.
This was better, we're making improvements, however carrying the bat down to first base is not good and might scare the poop out of some little kid playing first during a game to see another excited little kid running towards them with a bat.
So back to the T we went and I reminded her of the ever imporant step of dropping the bat. She looks at me and gives me that ok Mom I've got it this time face.
So I sauntered back to my position in the lawn and watched her check her feet, check her hands, check her shoulders, stare the ball down, take her swing and.......................................
She hit the ball, dropped the bat, and took off toward first!!!!!!!!
To ensure this was not a fluke we did it several more times and each time she did it perfectly!
Days like today always make me smile!!!!

Thank You Kia

I'm sure you all remember those random commercials leading up the SuperBowl with the life size Mr. Machine, Sock Monkey, and a couple other toys. The commercials didn't make a whole lot of sense until the main commerical at the Super Bowl.

During the commercial we see the toys as toys after their big night out in the Kia where they felt like life size people partying like rock stars.

Ever since Kia aired this little gem of a commercial Lilly got the sock monkey stuck in her head and she wanted one. Great! I'm not joking (I actually wish I was)! I thought it would pass, one of those random requests that after about a week will just go away - no such luck because as you all know once a commercial airs during the SuperBowl it then airs quite frequently.

So last week I decided how hard could making a sock monkey be, really? The first task was trying to find some sort of pattern or how-to guide. Well thank goodness for Google not only did I find a step-by-step guide with pictures there were also several how-to videos on You Tube. I'll be honest some of the videos were pretty funny!

Once I determined that this was something I could do I took Lilly to the store to pick out some socks in which to make her sock monkey. Now this was a process there were soooooooo many pairs of socks in sooooooo many different colors. Lilly would pick one pair, walk down the aisle some more, then find another pair she liked better. Finally she settled on a pink & red argyle patterned pair. Then we had to pick out some buttons for the eyes! After our sock experience I simply took her to the small craft section at WalMart where there is one rack of buttons instead of taking her to Joann's where there is a HUGE aisle of them!! Smart move on my part! She decided after careful reviewing to go with some pink flower buttons.

We got home from the store and I got busy! I made the first cut on one pair of socks and sewed up the legs and my sewing machine broke! This is status quo for projects though something that should take 5 minutes takes and hour and something that should take a couple of hours takes 3 days. So for the rest of the night I worked on sewing Miss Sock Monkey (it's a girl because the socks are pink) I continuted to work on the monkey while we watched TV that night, the next night, and again the following night. Man, did I miss my sewing machine, but I was bound and determined to finish it for Lilly!!!

Well after 3 nights of sewing limbs, and eyes, and a mouth, and even adding some pink hair Miss Monkey was finished. Lilly LOVES it! Which when it comes down to it is all the matters! Seeing her smile makes everything ok!