Spring time!

Now that the weather is nice we've been enjoying spending the days outside.  That has meant a lot of baseball before school, baseball after school and baseball during the weekends.  Carlos is coaching Diego's team and can't really stand it.  I don't think coaching other kids is Carlos' thing. I made him do it because Diego is technically too young for little league, but I couldn't make him do tee-ball again so I thought this would be a nice way for him to transition to little league.  Just putting him in the uniform makes the transition worth it!

Charlie is enjoying his team, though he also just likes to play catch and ball in the park with his friends. This past weekend he must have spent 5 hours at X park playing baseball with his friend Ian. They did take a 1 hour break to have lunch and watch part of the Nats game, but then it was back outside.

The other weekend we went to stay at Cici's family's house which is a super nice vineyard setting in Virginia. Given that life is a bit more relaxing without Sofia and because she wouldn't have any one her own age to beat up we decided to leave her with Sandra for the weekend. She loved it because all of Sandra's kids fought to take care of her and play with her. But I almost decided not to leave her because as I drove up to Sandra's house I noticed Charlie had his face in his hands and tears were rolling down his arms. "I don't want to leave Sofia. Please don't leave her. I promise to take care of her the whole weekend." I was so sad watching how sad he was that I almost kept driving.  Luckily I decided against the momentary weakness as we had a great and relaxing weekend. Because the kids all entertained each other I could actually finish sentences even during daytime hours!

Easter

We headed up to Philadelphia for Easter.  It was the first time that our kids got to meet the twins and they adored them.  They wanted to constantly caress the babies. The whole weekend was so fun. We spent time at my mom's store, running around the field house at GA and dying and then hunting for a lot of Easter eggs. Like last year, Soogy and I stayed up until 2 in the morning stuffing easter eggs with treats. We were trying to avoid that part of the weekend, but it seems inevitable and would have been okay except that there was an interlude to clean up Eli who threw up all over himself while asleep.  Amazing how kids can do that! Yet even a huge bag full of eggs didn't stand a chance against against 4.5 hunting kids (not surprisingly, Sofia was a feisty finder too).  The second part of the hunt was based on clues which as super fun and the kids were amazed that the Easter Bunny knew the intricacies of grandma's house.  One of the treats in their baskets was a huge chocolate gold coin that I got from Harrods while in London.  Charlie was convinced that the facade imprinted on the coin was that of the old Brooklyn Dodgers stadium.  I went with it as the Easter Bunny got way more credit for thinking of that than Harrods.....

GA was a lot of fun too due, in large part, to the fact that there was a pitching machine available for use. I even got to take some swings and have to say that hitting a baseball is incredibly satisfying!  We were all excited about the Nats opening day. Charlie set up a lemonade stand with Cici.  We didn't get to go so let the boys watch on TV. It was disappointing just like many other Nats games this April. That doesn't seem to dampen the boys enthusiasm. Carlos took them to a game during opening week and was able to sit right behind the Nats' dug out.  I watched the game from home and saw them on TV!

London

Carlos and I took advantage of a work trip I had to enjoy a weekend away in London. It's amazing how nice a few days away from a normal routine can be.  It's also impressive how much help we were able to round up to enable us to get away.  Carlos' mom flew in, my mom and my dad came down and Sandra was on duty.  London was spectacular - we walked all over the city, ate really good (indian) food, explored museums and Harrods, enjoyed high tea and saw plays.  It is such a beautiful and crazy rich city that DC seemed so small when we got back.

Carlos enjoy tea time

Easter treats at Harrods:

While we were gone the kids had opening day for little league.  They didn't know it, but they were actually a main attraction of the day.  Capitol Hill Little League planned to have the racing President Taft at the opening ceremonies and wanted Charlie and Diego to race against him. Unfortunately it was such a cold day that the boys only stayed to take a photo with the racing president and then left before the race around the base.

I think by day three the kids were all pretty discombobulated. The boys were convinced that Monday was spring break even though it wasn't so when told they had to go to school they totally melted down.

We got home in time to celebrate April fools day and Sofia's second birthday. She is turning into such a treasure.

 

 For April fools I gave them the old oreo with toothpaste and they gave me a cheerio sandwich. yum!