Newly Three-year-old Ben!

Before church on Saturday I attempted to get a few pictures of Ben to add to the 3-year-old gallery. He's a stinker and you can see it in many of these pictures. The few smiles I obtained were won through mommy immitating some of his favorite "lines". Where did three years go?

Even though they look alike, I had to include all the smiling ones.

T-Ball Practice!

Jack is playing t-ball for the first time. I've been nervous since he's 6-years-old and starting a sport for the first time. It's funny that 6 is old to start a sport; sad but true. He and I have been having "clinics" at home. He is doing so well, working extremely hard and most importantly, he loves it! This was practice last night in the drizzle:

Ready to stretch

Warming up

Ben in the dug-out, concerned about the mud on his shoes.

Jack was so focused and worked hard. He was killing me with his concentration.

I love this picture. He looks like a pro throwing that ball!

Another throw

Love this boy.

Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

To start our surprise Disney trip out, we went to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood studios the first day. Jack woke up this morning with a sore throat and a fever (what Ben had had the week prior). We decided to go ahead and go because he seemed to be doing okay at the condo and wanted "to do something fun". Probably a mistake as he really dragged all day and didn't seem to get too excited about anything (except Star Wars). Below are our adventures of the day.

Dinosaur World

As you can tell by my crazy hair (even with a hat on), it was extremely hot and humid).

You can kind of see Ben's concern here...

I love Jack's expression here. These were our first interactions with characters and the look of concern on Ben's face was priceless. I just didn't capture it well enough on camera.

Mickey kissed Jack on the head twice and he couldn't stop talking about that.

The Lion King Show at Animal Kingdom.

Riding Triceratops Spin.

Outside Hollywood Studios

Ben waiting his turn to see his "Peen" and "maynar". He was just so quiet, in awe.

All of us with Lightning and Mater.

Taking our time getting to Pizza Planet.

Ben and I waiting patiently at Pizza planet for Sam and Jack to finish up at the Star Wars ride.

The crack-up about this picture is that after leaving the Star Tours ride/store, there were other boys outside the store that had just gotten light sabers. Jack started blasting them with his blaster and they immediately started deflecting the blasts with their light sabers. Kids are so funny, they just go with it.

Scooter ridin' to school

Apparently everyone in our neighborhood either rides a bike or scooter to school. I've seen several moms riding their own scooters with their kids. Jack has thoroughly enjoyed the little bit of independence he has been granted as scooter-ridin' is a big honkin' deal.

As you can see, it's serious business, too.

This day, he rode all the way through the houses and in the grass to our house.

I just love this picture (but not the dumpster). Too bad I can't photo shop it out. Not-a-care-in-the-world-look on his face.

" You see how cool I am with my scooter (that's too small for me now), I get to ride this thang to school and my mom doesn't care..."

Introduction to Basketball

Jack has never played an organized sport. I decided it was time to get going with sports, figure out what he is most interested in and just do it. I signed him up for, "introduction to basketball" at the YMCA. Today was his first class and he loved it. He was enthusiastic, didn't stop moving and working hard the entire lesson. I took a gazillion pictures and couldn't narrow it down more than I did below.

He's got great form here. He said that he made three baskets during the lesson, but the goal was so high, I just don't know about three? I did see one go in.

I LOVE this facial expression here. He's looking at those girls like, "what are you doing here?".

Ben never misses out on an opportunity to make himself comfortable while taking in the show.

Lots of dribbling and bounce passing.

Not even close.

I love how he sat down on his ball, just like the teacher.

Getting Outside - finally!

We have been stir-crazy inside the last three to four weeks. The heat has been unbearable. I figured out our sprinkler system and decided the boys needed a little water fun and exercise. They ran and ran and ran for the entire 36 minutes (each section is on a timer).


We had two inflatable balls and the game was, shove-the-ball-as-close-the-sprinkler-base as you can. Everything with boys has to be rough, has to be physical and must be loud.

Back to the shoving game.

What would happen if I step on the sprinkler - even though mommy has told me one thousand times not to?

Jack hurt his foot. He got over it.

Ben is a tired mess. Look at those legs and face!

Oh, how I know and love this facial expression.

I just want to reach out and pick that grass off his face.

Drying off and laughing at each other. I just love it when they love each other.

Helicopter overhead.

Worn out and happy. Good idea, mom!