take me out to the ballgame

My Gift works for a pretty cool company. On Sunday they took us to a Mariner's game, via the train. We had a fun train-ride and then a nice stroll to the ballpark where we ate hot dogs and sang patriotic songs and had a great time during all 15 innings. Final score: 1:2 in favor of the Detroit Tigers.

Cruisinart ice cream maker joins the family

How did we get by this long without one? The Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker has joined our family to the rejoicing of all.

Tonight we had chocolate ice cream after t-ball. I mixed it up in the blender this morning and popped it into the ice-cream machine when we got home. By the time we had unloaded the car and put our things away fresh yummy ice cream was ready. MMMMMmmmmmm.

I do not, btw, follow the enclosed recipes. Too much cream. Too much sugar. I made tonight's with a fraction of the cream (used 2% instead) and only half the sugar and it was marvelous.

Tomorrow I think I'll try strawberry lemonaid sorbet.

All in all today, we made two batches of bread (one is already baked and the other is the slow-rise recipe to bake tomorrow), a batch of yogurt, some basil olive oil, and a round of chocolate ice-cream.

The rest of the day I loafed around on the deck. Twas lovely.

tyat: two years ago today

Two years ago today we received our referral for our son. At the time, he was five and a half years old.




Dandy, age 5 and a half:















Dandy, age 6 and a half (still in Russia):



















The bear is one we took to the orphanage for him. Meshotka/медведь has traveled around the world and now lives in one of our upstairs bedrooms.


Dandy, age 7 and a half (on third base, somewhere in America):

If you want to know why it all took so long, mouse on over to the far right sidebar until you find our adoption timeline. From there you can click on links to the month-by-month progress (or lack thereof).

things I need to remember

1. When cleaning up the kitchen with my son:

• My first job is to build a relationship with him.
• My second job is to train him in how to clean the kitchen.
• My third job is to clean the kitchen.

And at the end of the day, when I fret that nothing got done, I need to evaluate my day in terms of relationship-building and training, not in terms of task completion.

2. Do not ever ever schedule a day so that it looks like this:

• take Chickadee to preschool . . . pick her up
• half hour later, take Dandy to school . . . pick him up
• one hour later, take both kids to swimming lessons
• one hour after that, take both kids to t-ball

:: this post is included in the May 28 Carnival of Family Life

t-ball cuteness

I had no idea how much I would enjoy taking the kids to t-ball. When we call to the runner on third to run home, the 3rd baseman runs with him. They tag home plate together and give each other a high five.

images linked from Rush right over and order!

(we are B&G baseball 4/5 Mumms)

T-ball

The kids had their first t-ball turn-out today which was lots of fun. Dandy has a good arm and hits the ball well. The most exciting thing of the day was, however, the fact that My Gift is off turn-around and was home early. He is reading books to the kiddos as I type. It is so lovely to have another grown-up in the home.

t-ball

I'm trying to focus on happier days ahead -- ones in which we get to leave the house and do normal-people things.

My calendar tells me that t-ball practice starts in two weeks. I have NO experience with anything remotely resembling athletic endeavor, so I need your help. What exactly do I need to outfit two little people for t-ball?

On which hand do they wear the glove? their dominant hand I presume? (yes, I was a nerd in school - last one picked etc.)

edited to add that we have a T and a ball and a bat and one glove.
Elle told me I need cleats. When I ebay cleats I get soccer cleats; are they the same?
When I google gloves I get inch measurements. How do I figure out the right size?
They will get team t-shirts. Do they need special pants?

edited once again to share this cool T-Ball coloring book pdf that I found.