Babes and Motorcycles

Last Saturday, May 22, my mom and I took Holden and Adi to the Harley Davidson event at the assisted living house where my grandpa is living. Holden loves motorcycles and points them out whenever he hears or sees one, so I thought he would love it and I was right. I thought Adi might get a little bored, but she ended up on 3 of the bikes and had a blast! She's our little "no fear" girl! We almost got grandpa to take a ride, but his legs weren't cooperating. It was a great time.





Live to Ride!









Our neighbors came along, too...Holden and Lauren...

could there be another photo like this 25 years from now?




"Mama, mama, mo!"





Later that same evening, we cruised over to the Borges' for a BBQ with them and the Mullins family. We all had a great time! The kids, especially, had a blast playing with all of the fun things outback - jump house, trampoline, playhouse, sand box, golf set, etc.!!! The dinner was excellent and the company was awesome! I love our friends so much!




HJ found some chocolate in his snack cup and had it

all over him by the time we arrived!



HJ and Brayden bouncin' around!

Holden loved this trampoline!!!

Easter 2010

Forgot to blog about our Easter! We had a wonderful Easter this year! We started the morning off at my Grandpa's assisted living home where they had an egg hunt and some other games for the kids. Adi had so much fun playing the egg toss game with me and she won the m&m's in a jar game! Holden picked up his first egg and said "ball" and then threw it! Good thing it was plastic. Then we went to my parent's for another egg hunt and lunch. A great day!

The Mower

So, lots of kids get attached to a "lovey" such as a stuffed animal or a blanket, but our sweet Holden seems to be attached to lawn mowers (and tractors!!!). He fondly refers to them as "mow" and he can't get enough of them! He loves to watch people mow the lawn, especially the big ride on mowers because they look like tractors. He loves to help daddy and grandpa mow, and sometimes we even have to bring mower in the car with us. Boys will be boys.








Yes, the mower is actually going for a ride with us...I know, not the safest.
Dude, check out that hair!!


Getting ready to help daddy mow!

March Wrap-up

March was a busy month for us. Adi started softball and has been busy with practice and of course getting to know all of the girls on her team. One girl in particular, Molly, has become a fast friend and the girls have had a few play dates. Lance is helping coach her team and he's having fun with it. Brayden, the son of our friends Allison and Reece, turned one on March 2 and Siena, the daughter of our friends Emily and Gabe, turned one on March 24 so we got to celebrate both birthdays, which was lots of fun. We also took a trip to Roseville to visit Erich and family, I took the kids to a few different playgrounds during Adi's spring break, and we played outside whenever the weather would allow it.


On the rides at Chuck-E-Cheese's for Brayden's 1st birthday!




Birthday boy Brayden!!

Not feeling very well at Siena's 1sth birthday.

Birthday girl Siena!

Future cake baker. Daddy downed this cake in two bites!

Our Honeybee before her first game!

Our little slugger! This game was sooo windy and cold!!!

Mowing Uncle Erich's lawn with Grandpa!

We love our new slide!!!

Captain of the ship at Caper Acres.

Having so much fun and getting soaked at the same time!

He found the ice cream container in the freezer

while I had my back turned and was diving in!!!

Spring Break and St. Patrick's Day

Adi had the week off from school for spring break and she hung out with us for most of the week. We had lots of fun playing outside in the very awesome warm weather! We played with bubbles, sidewalk chalk, the jeep (automated car), walks in the park and a couple of playgrounds!

The kids and I also celebrated St. Patrick's Day by wearing our green, making green cupcakes, coloring four leaf clover pictures and even making daddy corned beef and cabbage! I don't normally go all out for this holiday, but it's fun when you have kids!

Fun with sidewalk chalk making little masterpieces

right where daddy parks.

Mmmmm yummy....and yes, vegan!

Adi and her new friend, Molly, her teammate on her softball team.

Lot's-o-fun wearing green and cruisin' in the jeep. Poor little HJ took quite a spill a little later and scraped up his chin pretty good....and he had just removed his helmet that little stinker.

Holden and next door neighbor, Lauren.

Chico Bullpen Baseball Academy

How the Chico Bullpen came about.....

Lance was laid off from Hardesty and Sons back in August, 2009. He decided then that he definitely did not want to go back to construction work. His love is baseball and he had to do something related. He has always wanted to be a scout and still wants to be and decided to pursue a scouting job. It seemed as though every open door led to a dead end. He was becoming very frustrated. His buddy asked if he wanted to help coach some travel teams of kids aged 9-14. Lance was happy to do it, excited to do it, and thought, even if I don't get paid, at least his name was getting out there. He also started volunteering his time at little league fields maintaining them. He would go out almost every morning and work on them. During his time coaching the travel teams, he realized how much he enjoys working with kids and of course baseball...the perfect combination. The kids loved him, too and their parents noticed. They started coming to him asking for lessons. He decided that he should open his own baseball school, a dream he has had for a long time now. At first it was just dreaming out loud to me but the more we thought and talked about it, the more it became a reality. His unemployment was running out and my paycheck has been dwindling down so what did we have to lose? He wanted to try this new venture not only to pursue his dream but also to provide for us, his family. Once we decided it was a go, he/we started working non-stop until the doors opened on Feb. 16, 2010. It has been a lot of hard work so far and we still aren't done, but it's also really exciting. Unfortunately it's a little bittersweet at the moment, but hopefully everything with his "buddy" will blow over. Yay honey! Here's to a very exciting and fun (and maybe a little nerve-wracking and a bit stressful) year to come with the Chico Bullpen! I'm so proud of you!

The house was a wreck for a few weeks with things Lance

ordered for the business....

The first day with the building.

The office

Hanging the cages

Painting the Bullpen signature colors

The finished product!

The Grand Opening Day and the proud family!

Valentine's Day

We spent Valentine's Day down in Roseville this year. Lance's travel team had a tournament down there and the kids, mom and I went, too. We stayed in a hotel because Evan had been sick up until the afternoon we headed down and by that time we already had our hotel and couldn't cancel without a fee. It was weird staying in a hotel but kind of fun also. It is a brand new hotel and so it was really nice. Lance had two games on Sunday, heart day, so the rest of us went to hang out with Erich, Meg and the kids before heading home. Meg had the table set with roses and mimosas and made heart shaped pancakes with powdered sugar and berries, a tofu scramble and heart shaped vegan sausage! YUM! It was a beautiful day so after breakfast we took a nice walk to a little park where the kids played a little....

Adi Grace striking a pose!

So cute!!!

HJ had so much fun going down the slide with Grandma!

What a handsome boy!

Peek-a-boo!

The girls in their matching dresses....love it!