Spring has Sprung

As Aaron's mom used to say, "Spring has sprung, the grass is ris', I wonder where the birdies is?"

Well we haven't spent too much time looking for birdies this spring, but we sure have devoted a lot of weeknights to baseball! With Xander, Elodie, Hazel, and Max all participating in baseball/softball/T-ball, we're spending a lot of time at the fields. Oliver couldn't be happier. Because, naturally, the fields are outside. And Oliver's motto seems to be, "why stay inside when you could go outside?" The ball park in our town is the best because this beautiful spot is right behind the fields.

On Tuesday night, Xander's game and T-ball practice for Hazel & Max were on neighboring fields just up from the creek. I didn't watch much of the baseball action, but I enjoyed watching Oliver throw huge rocks into the creek. Elodie is that pink dot in the background, having a good time trying to build a bridge with a couple of her friends whose brothers were also playing ball. When her friend cut her foot on a stick and Elodie was carefully bandaging her up, I chuckled when I overheard her friend tell her parents that Elodie was "practically a doctor" because her dad is. 😉

After the game, Xander's friend got to come home with us while he waited for his mom to get back from watching his brother play baseball in a neighboring town. Xander and Matthew headed right over to the empty lot across the street and got a lot more hitting action than they did in the actual game. When Matthew left, Xander kept playing ball with Elodie until I begged and finally convinced them to come inside at nearly 9:00. The weather has been gorgeous; when it feels this much like summer, its hard to believe it's a school night! After a losing game where he struck out his only time at bat and got no action in left field, Xander said that playing Sandlot style afterwards was way more fun than the game had been.

I don't know if he would have said the same thing after Thursday night's winning game. There was much jubilation in the bottom of the last inning when a teammate hit the ball way into outfield, brought a player home, and broke the tie. The dug out erupted in cheers and all the boys went home feeling like champs. Good times.

We have made the most of the beautiful weather and the beautiful place we live by going on short little explores. We can see horses out of our window, which has often helped Oliver overcome a tantrum that he just can't quite shake. This dark brown horse here is the friendliest of the three that live just across the street from our house, behind the vacant lot. When we approach the fence to visit, this horse meanders over to the fence to say hello. Max has discovered how much he loves feeding horses. As he was yanking out long handfuls of grass to feed the friendly horse, he told me he wants to be a farmer when he grows up so he can feed horses all the day.

Just a bit further down the road, Max found this cool little bridge across the creek. What could be better for a little boy than pretending to fish with some sticks over the side and throwing rocks into the water? 

Imagine Max's excitement to find another horse just on the other side of the bridge! And this horse ate grass from his hand, too! Truly ideal childhood adventures right here.