Still Alive

Okay, so I've noticed on the sidebars of several of my friends' blogs
that my most recent blog post is now 3 weeks old. DOH!! I blame it on
a very busy summer, both at home and work. (One consolation is that
several of these friends' most recent blog posts are also getting
rather...stale, shall we say...)

So I just wanted to throw a little something up here to prove that we're
still alive and kicking. We've had lots of visitors and events and
things keeping us busy since, oh, around Grace's birthday (April 25th,
if you didn't have that at the forefront of your mind), but our last big
commitment, Matt's soccer program, ends tomorrow, and then we have a
nice 3 week break before school starts and things kick into gear again.
But even with soccer, August has been relatively peaceful and relaxing
compared to the previous 3 months. I still intend to blog about the
items that I teased about a post or two back. I just need to find the
right blog-friendly time.

Maybe that can be my New [School] Year's resolution.

Pillow Talk

While chatting with Matthew at bedtime last night, he came out with
this:

"Mom, I'm starting think..."

"I'm starting to think that all the food that you eat goes into your
tummy and turns into poop. And everything you drink goes into your
tummy and turns into pee. "

Whoda thunk?

Too Busy to Blog

We've had tons of stuff going on for, oh, the past two months or so, and I really want to blog about it. Unfortunately, I can't find the time!! But here's a little laundry list of things I would blog about if I could, and may blog about when I can.

1. Garage Demolition--such drama!!

2. Painting the living room--it's finally the color I want it to be!!

3. 4th of July weekend in Ohio--a fun time was had by all!!

4. AISA Day at Seabreeze--Jonathan goes on the Screamin' Eagle!!

5. Jonathan's baptism--he's EXTRA clean now!!

6. Matthew in soccer--too stinkin' cute!!

Okay, have you gotten your fill of double exclamation points? That's supposed to make the list sound like a monster truck rally commercial. Bear with me--now that I have this list, I really WILL make a point of blogging about each item (complete with pictures).

Ah the smell of a fresh blog!

It was time for a change, don't you think?

I've been putting off changing my blog template because I kept seeing comments about people losing their page elements (mostly comments saying "Don't worry! You won't lose your page elements with MY templates," but still...). But today, it was time. Out with the old, in with the new! Hope you like it.

A real post about something will be coming soon. Maybe even several posts about several somethings.

Preschool "Graduation"

Matthew's preschool "graduation" was Friday, and it was too adorable. The kids walked in to "Pomp and Circumstance," sat down on the steps of the stage, and then regaled the audience with 4 cute songs (my favorite was "Bumblebee" by Laurie Berkner). Then each class (there were 3 of them) went up on the stage in turn and the kids' names were read off as they walked across, were handed a rolled up certificate and walked through a balloon arch, where they had been instructed to stop and wave at everyone. It was too stinkin' cute.

After all the classes were done, they played a slideshow of pictures taken of the kids throughout the year. That was pretty darn cute too. Afterwards, they had refreshments and an opportunity for the kids to get pictures with their teachers or classmates. Would have been nice to do some of those shots outside, but the event itself was held in the basement of the church adjacent to the school building (the school was formerly a Catholic middle school), so going outside for pictures would have been way too chaotic.

Despite the ceremonies on Friday, the kids still have 3 days of school this week, Matt won't really be done until Wednesday. Then it's off to KINDERGARTEN!

Go here for pictures (I don't feel like futzing with Blogger's photo uploader today!)

On this date in...

1621 The Dutch West India Company received a charter for New Netherlands, present-day New York City.

1808 Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederacy, was born in Christian County, Ky.

1888 The poem "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer was first published, in the San Francisco Daily Examiner.

1937 The Duke of Windsor married American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson, for whom he had abdicated the British throne.

1968 Pop artist Andy Warhol was shot and critically wounded in his New York film studio, The Factory, by actress Valerie Solanas.

1989 Chinese army troops began a sweep of Beijing to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations.

1989 Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, died.

2001 Mel Brooks' musical comedy "The Producers" won a record 12 Tony Awards.

2001 Jonathan Michael Foster was born, proving to his parents that prayers really are answered

2003 Matthew Adam Foster was born, giving his big brother a unique birthday gift and his parents a whole new reason to smile

In addition to each other, Jonathan and Matthew share their birthday with:
Jefferson Davis, Ransom Eli Olds, Josephine Baker, Colleen Dewhurst, Tony Curtis, Chuck Barris, Larry McMurtry, Emmitt Thomas, Deniece Williams, Scott Valentine, and Travis Hafner

Happy 8th birthday to my JonaBuggy!

Happy 5th birthday to my Matty Hoo Hoo!

(Having a ball on their birthday)

Play Ball!!

Saturday was Opening Day for the boys' Little League. It's a day long festival of baseball playing, with all the teams from tee-ball on up to majors playing on the fields at Eastridge High School.

Jonathan's game was scheduled for 11:30 and Matt's for 1:30. I was sure Matt's would be rained out, based on the forecast, but thankfully the rain held off. Unfortunately, Jon's game started an hour and 10 minutes late thanks to the high school's girls modified softball team, which had a 9am game that lasted until 12:15. I was able to catch the first inning and a half before I had to take Matt to his game, which was at the other end of the athletic fields. I did get to see his first at-bat and I'm told he made an awesome catch of a foul ball while he was playing catcher.


Matthew's game was everything you'd expect from the very first game of tee-ball with a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds. I can't say I see any future All-Stars out there yet, but the kids had a great time playing, and that's the whole point for us. It was fun to watch them try out what they've been learning in practice for the last month. They only played 2 innings, but that was plenty!

More pictures of the day can be found here. I should mention that Jonathan is on the Yankees (for the 3rd year in a row) and Matthew is on the Red Sox. Insert favorite rivalry joke here.