Salem Red Sox

Jake got some Salem Red Sox tickets from Bill for Saturday night. We knew it would be fun and that the boys would probably like it. It had been years since we went to a game - and back then it was the Salem Avalanche.

We may have gotten into the park for free, but we definitely spent our fair share on food!!! The boys got hotdogs, I got chili/cheese fries, we had 2 souvenier cups of Dr Pepper, an icecream cone, 2 SnoShack snow cones (that were HUGE), and I think that's it. It may have been kind of expensive, but that's part of the beauty of going to a game - the food!

Travis was afraid of the 2 Sox walking around as well as Mugsy and Misty (the 2 mascot dogs). Even though we were in the nosebleeds and the dogs were down at the dugouts, Travis still threw a fit and wanted to go home.

Cookout

We got into Roanoke around 4pm on Friday. The first thing we had planned was to head to Granny's and PawPaw's for a cookout.
One of the BEST places to hang out is in their backyard. I've said it before, but it's great to rock in the chairs under the deck while the kids play in the yard. And good food only makes it better!

The 2 Charlottes!!!

Tammy, Charlotte and Wyatt.
I don't know what it is, but Wyatt and big Charlotte have a kinship like no other. He will sit and talk to her unlike any other adult. It's quite interesting.

Bath Time

Travis desperately needed a bath, and Nana needed some time to finish stuff in the kitchen. So I put both kidoodles in the tub. They had plenty of fun until I had to wipe dried snot off of Charlotte's face... that's when the fun stopped!!!!

Water Fun

The weather for the weekend was AWESOME! In fact, it was a little too warm at times. So we busted out the slip-n-slide so the kids could cool off a bit.

Travis started out in a diaper, but that only lasted 2 minutes or so. He ended up playing in the pool of water buck naked.

An action shot of Wyatt. I was surprised because he was the one to do the most daring slips down the slide. He didn't seem as concerned about the chill of the water like Brad was.

Here is one of Brad's attempts to go down the slide. It took him a few tries to make it to Travis in the pool.

Charlotte looks on... The water was TOO cold for her little tootsies, so she just had fun watching the boys.

Arbor Day Festivities

For those of you that have known me for a while, you know that I used to work on BYU campus as an arborist and for Bartlett Tree Experts as ground crewman as well as a technician. So I always love Arbor Day festivities as it allows everyone to plant a new tree. Jake likes the day because he's an outdoorsman and appreciates the beauty of plants whether they're trees or landscape plants. So it was a given for us to go to the festivities in Loudoun County.

Among the reps at the festivities, there were many different tree companies including Arborist Artist, Bartlett, Davey, and a couple of more, some conservation organizations, Dept of Forestry, etc.

Arborist Artists (whom I had never heard of before) had some ropes in a Red Oak. They had different sizes of saddles or belts for the kids to put on and go up. With pulley systems set in place, it was easy to get the kids up. The guys showed the kids to put their hand over the knot and pull down to descend the rope back to the ground.

All 3 of our boys wanted a shot. I had to take tons of pictures!!!

getting hooked onto the ropes to go up the tree

Whee!

Wyatt is helping the guy pull him up the tree by pulling on the rope above the knot.

Safely back on the ground!

Learning where to place his hands, Brad is eager to get climbing.

And they all got pretty high. Wyatt was impressed when I told him how high he had gotten once he was back on the ground.
I think they all LOVED it and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Oriole Nest

Part of celebrating Arbor Day is having conservationists and wildlife preservers around. One group found this Oriole nest that seems to be made from horse hair. I'm guessing it gathered the hair from a nearby farm.

Hay Ride to Plant Trees

We got on a wagon for a hay ride... at the stopping point we all got off and planted trees.

We didn't stick around to wait for everyone else to plant their trees. We planted 2 and then walked back to the parking area to head home. All of us were ready to go home.

Black Shadows Strike Again

As you can see, Wyatt's jersey is black. On their first practice, the coach told them that their name would be the Black Shadows.
So on this sunny Saturday, the Black Shadows prevailed...again.

Warming up and getting ready for the game.

Looking on and getting ready for everyone to get in position.

An action shot! Wyatt was determined to get the ball and put it in the net every time!

Waiting for the others...

With a few teammates - strategizing... OK, maybe just talking and being kids!

FREE plants

Do you like our tulips? I know, they're bent over and look a little nutrient defficient... But they were FREE. I got 8 potted tulips for FREE. I was on my way to Walmart. If you go the back way, then you pass by the back of Lowes. It was dreary and getting dark and I happened to look at the entrance to where the trucks deliver goods. I saw some pink! I got to the intersection and did a U-turn to see how many tulips it was. There were 8 potted plants in a box in the dumpster.
I don't care if they're nearly spent for the season - that's the beauty of bulbs. They'll be back next year and look fabu in our yard!

Short Hair

All 3 boys were in desperate need of haircuts. I was tired of Wyatt's same old cut, so I cut it all off. Jake nearly died because he wanted it longer. I guess I learned my lesson and I've got to do it with scissors instead of clippers.

I have to say, Wyatt looks younger with this shorter cut. I like it!

As for Travis... Grandpa kept threatening to cut it over the weekend. Luckily the gal that usually cuts my hair is willing to tackle Travis and his hair. Needless to say it was about 7 minutes of tears, gagging from hair in the mouth, me holding his head still while she cut around the ears, and hair all over him. But the results are great.

Sorry about the sauce in the corners of his mouth. I was catching him before he went out to play again and didn't look at his face!

Home for a Turtle

Within hours of getting to Grammy and Grandpa's house, the 4-wheeler decided to conk out. So the boys had to find other ways to spend their time. On Friday they helped Grandpa mow the lawn - all 3 of them were on the mower with Grandpa!!! On Saturday they helped Grandpa split wood - Wyatt manned the valve while Brad helped Grandpa with the wood. On Sunday they played in the wooded area behind the house even though they were told not to due to ticks.

While in the woods, Brad and Wyatt found this poor tarpin that probably wishes it had been a rock instead. They even made the beautiful "house" above with scraps of wood and bark they found in the yard.

Unfortunately the turtle didn't want to stick around to be a pet. The boys put him in his home and went in the house for about an hour. When they went back out, they couldn't find the turtle. We think he snuck under the deck to avoid any more persecution!

Baskets

Here are 2 of the 3 Easter baskets. Notice there aren't too many eggs... the boys were sure to eat as much as their tummies would hold!!!

Scentsy

I have begun a new business venture. I know that most of you are probably rolling your eyes wondering what other thing I could possibly be up to. As many of you know I've been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for the past 2 years. After thinking long and hard and realizing I wasn't making any money because it all went right back into fun stamps and other supplies, I have decided to step back and only use my creativity in scrapbooks and cards as a hobby. Don't get me wrong, I have loved the past 2 years, but it's now time to move on.

I learned about Scentsy at an open house that I participated in earlier in the month. Around here, Scentsy is still a very new thing. Scentsy candles do not have a flame and are completely safe. Because the warmers use 25-watt bulbs and the wax is of food-grade paraffin, there is no way to burn even tender fingers. Not only that, there are over 80 scents to please even the pickiest noses.

I signed up on April 7th. My goal is to gradually build my business so that I won't have to get a normal job when Travis starts kindergarten in a little over 2 years.
I will be holding my kickoff open house on
Saturday, May 9th from 2-4pm.

If you are interested in learning more, or even placing an order to help me jump start my business, visit my website at www.scentsy.com/getflamefree.

Easter

Oh it would be nice to post some pictures, but I forgot to take the camera to Lynchburg this weekend and Mom is still trying to send me the pictures we took with her camera. So here's a recap of what happened.

The boys were out of school on Friday for Spring Break. We packed up and headed to Lynchburg to see Grammy and Grandpa Shorter. Jake stayed behind because he was the only one at work on Friday, had the Stake Easter Open House on Saturday and YM on Sunday. The boys didn't care if Daddy was there or not because Grandpa was home for the weekend.

Unfortunately the 4-wheeler conked out within hours of arriving at the house. Of course it didn't keep the boys out of the woods. I'm surprised we didn't catch any ticks, but on Sunday Brad and Wyatt caught a turtle. Poor thing was so traumatized despite the boys' best efforts to give him the comforts of home.

The Easter Bunny visited the Shorter house on Saturday morning (it's a tradition that started when we were kids to keep the sugar high to Saturday rather than before church on Sunday!) The boys got baskets with some eggs - one included quarters, sidewalk chalk and the movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Of course there was an egg hunt, which Travis wasn't too interested in after finding the first egg with candy in it.

Overall it was a great weekend. We had fun and look forward to the next visit.

Snow in April

Do you know that it snowed today? The blossoms are out on all of the trees. Many flowers are moments from opening up. It has been fairly warm every day until now.

We woke up and it was frigid. Of course the wind has been blowing lots lately, but of course it is April!!! On our way home from a camp meeting, it stated snowing! It continued on and off all afternoon. Crazy!

Technology Today

So do you guys remember when there were only 3 channels (maybe 4) to watch on TV? Oh yeah, and there was no such thing as a remote either? And then there was the option of cable, but you still had to go to the TV to change the channel on the box.

One of our family's favorite shows to watch is America's Funniest Video. It's the one show that Travis will actually sit the entire time to watch. So lately I've DVRed some episodes so that when he's being a stinker I can play one for him to watch. Usually either I or one of the other boys will watch it with him and skip through the commercials.

Last night we were watching the show that came on at 7pm. All of us laughed and had a good time watching, but every commercial break made Travis cry. He would scream at us to go to the show. We finally realized that he thought we could always run through the commercials to get back to the show.

Jake and I just laughed and shook our heads because we remember times before there were even VCRs. Now we can record any and all of one show, we can pause live TV, we can rewind to hours before as long as the channel hasn't been changed... it's crazy.

Needless to say, our kids will one day think we grew up in the dark ages. I wonder what they'll think of their grandparents' time!!!???!!!

Kitty

I would have to say that Kitty is Travis' favorite neighborhood friend. In fact, when he was saying his prayers last night, we thanked Heavenly Father for going to the puppet show and seeing the big dog there. And as I was helping Travis close the prayer, he added, "And Kitty!" It was too cute!

Once Travis was done petting and playing with Kitty, I told him to look at his hands. First off, they were filthy from playing outside anyway. Second, they had loads of hair on them. At first Travis just stared at his hands. Then he looked from his hands to kitty - like he was putting 2 and 2 together. It was funny. I told him that the hair came from Kitty, and then he proceeded to wipe his hands on my sweatshirt. Nice!

As we were getting ready to leave for the soccer fields, I was yelling at Travis to come in the house. He and Kitty were near a shrub in our front yard. He wanted Kitty to come out so he pulled her tail. I even heard a screech from the cat, but she didn't retaliate. In fact, she came out from under the shrub and started rubbing on Travis' legs again.
Crazy cat!

Travis' Words

I just have to chuckle at some of the words Travis comes up with. I thought I'd share 2 of them that stemmed from conversations just this evening.

We passed a farm that has peacocks. One of them was standing by the road with its feathers spread. Travis started yelling, "Wanna see Keycop!"

Since we had soccer practice and Jake had to head to church for mutual, we stopped by McDonalds (I know, really healthy!) I asked Travis if he preferred chickies (nuggets) or a hamburger. His answer was, "Himger."

I think it's cute to hear what he comes up with. He's getting easier to understand, but of course he has his own language too.