Meg's Hoops

We're deep into our summer activities right now, which seems as good a time as any to catch up on winter sports in this house. Yikes! I'm quite behind on anything that's taken place in the last six months or so (I do have a decent excuse, I suppose), but I can't document Bridget's basketball season without a post for Megan!

Megan is terrific at basketball! Of course I would say that, being her mom and all. But, I promise I'm not biased on this one. She loves this game and truly excelled at it this year. She understands the game so much more than she did in kindergarten, and she just exudes confidence and aggressiveness. It's so fun to watch! And trust me when I say I never thought I would consider basketball fun to watch. Parenthood really does change everything!

    

Megan was a top scorer on her team, and such a good hustler. She scored a handful of baskets each week, and her confidence kept growing. During her season, she loved shooting hoops during Bridget's practices, but especially loved the basketball hoop we got at our house halfway through her season! Every night she would ask to practice while I made dinner. Since the hoop is in our front yard, it has been a leap of faith to let her play out there unattended. It helps that, as I'm cooking, I can hear the "thump, thump" of the basketball to know she's still there. Bridget is allowed out there with her as well, so they feel like such big kids!

I just love the girls on Megan's team. They all played so nicely together, and are just learning the ins and outs of when to pass to each other and when to shoot. There are lots of little conversations on the court in the heat of the moment, and it's funny to watch them choose whether to take all of the glory by shooting, or to work as a team. It's especially nice to know they'll be playing together for many years!



It's safe to say that basketball is Megan's favorite sport at the moment, although she's currently infatuated with swimming, so who knows? Maybe she'll be on a swim team at some point.  No matter the sport,  I just love to see her cute flushed face while she's hustling around, building such amazing confidence, competing and having so much fun with her friends. 

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was as special as always for me this year. It's hard to believe it's my 7th! Even better, I enjoyed more than one day this year, since Bridget's kindergarten class hosted a mom's breakfast on that Friday complete with serenading and gifts. It doesn't get any sweeter than seeing your little 5-year-old singing you sweet songs and sneaking cute glances at you during the performance. I was sitting off to one side, and I just loved how she kept looking over and smiling shyly. Siblings weren't allowed to come, which was perfect. It made for some special one-on-one time to appreciate this sweet little girl for all she is as she prepares to graduate to first grade (how is that possible?!).

She retrieved snacks for each of us after the performance, and then we read a book together from one of the bookshelves in her classroom.

And then she gave me my first Mother's Day presents of the year - a rose and a sweet frame made from popsicle sticks and pasta. The picture is one that her teacher took of the two of us before school one day. Now, the frame sits on top of the girls' bookcase beside the one that Megan gave me!

On the real Mother's Day, I was even more spoiled! I woke up to a parade of girls walking down the stairs toward our room, each carrying a different part of my breakfast. They had all helped Matt prepare breakfast in bed for me, and they were so excited to bring it to me.

After we got a picture with me and my breakfast crew, Mary stayed in bed with me to help me out with that breakfast!

Later, we all enjoyed a beautiful brunch at the restaurant at Harding Park Golf Course. Matt's family had reserved an entire banquet room, which was absolutely perfect, especially considering that none of the moms involved had to take part in hosting a party at their own house. What a treat!! We had a fabulous view of the golf course, plenty of time to eat, and loads of room for the kids to run around.

As always, Aunt Stacy proved to be much more thoughtful and wise than me! She brought markers, stickers, paper and button makers (!) for the kids to make buttons for their moms. She put me to shame considering I hadn't even considered entertainment for the girls (I may have had a toy cell phone and some stray goldfish in my purse that morning, if I was very lucky), so it was a good thing Stacy was on the ball! The girls went to town creating button after button for me to wear, and they stayed very busy!

Since no one was hosting, we had plenty of energy and time to coordinate a few pictures with the beautiful golf course in the background. Only Jenny is missing from this photo of Pat and her kids!

This picture captures just a few of the Stecher grandkids. We'll be able to get everyone in one shot come August in Tahoe!

And one with the Mason kids.  Tessa and Annie are always happy (they're smiling for this one!) when they're in the care of the older Mason girls. They are such lifesavers during family parties since the twins stick like glue to Micaela, Brittany and Caitlin. 

And, I even got my own pictures with my girls. Of course, not a one of them is the perfect shot, but together they totally capture the craziness that is mothering five little girls :)

My day was perfect in so many ways. But, what made it a perfect day for the girls? They were able to hop on some abandoned golf carts for a few minutes after brunch. It's the little things!!

Five Cheers for Coach Daddy

Another baseball season has come and GONE! Matt led his team to the championship again this year, so his season was extra long and extra stressful. Unfortunately, his team lost the championship in extra innings this year, so it wasn't quite the ending they hoped for. The girls were equally disappointed after the loss. Most notably, a sweaty and tired Annie shouted in the aftermath, "Oooh! I really don't like that yellow team. They are mean, mean meanies, and I won't root for them!" She also waved, repeatedly, at Daddy during the game, and yelled, "I'm here for you to win!" Oh well.

But, it's not all about winning or losing, right? It's about supporting your Daddy :) For these girls, it meant sacrificing the occasional naptime and rallying to watch a game on the home field. We made it to a handful of games, although not much game-watching went on. With enough players for games of their own, they're more "Mr. Fox" fans than baseball fans right now.


They usually remembered their little bags of "doodads," too. These come in especially handy when you want to share with other faculty and coaches' kids while in the stands. For the championship game, fellow faculty kids shared the limited shade with them, and they all did they're best to root for SI when they weren't inhaling popcorn and fruit snacks.

Besides the championship game, a highlight for the girls this year was the annual alumni game. Watching the alumni (AKA "the daddies") play against the current baseball team is always amusing. More importantly, there are always a ton of alumni kids in the stands to play with. And most importantly, there's a "tractor" just waiting to be ridden after the game.

Tessa and Annie Turn the Big 0-4

Tessa and Annie are 4 now! Where does the time go?! Granted, they did turn almost 3 months ago. Yikes! I'm a big ol' procrastinator when it comes to this blog lately, and their 4th birthday is one of many, many things I need to catch up on!

Their big day came the day after our big family party celebrating our March girls. They not only happily shared their party with each other, but also with Megan. They had a ton of fun, and were more than happy to wear their new birthday crowns the next day when we picked up the girls from school.

As you can see in these pictures, there are now some distinct differences emerging between these two, both physically and in their personalities. Tessa's gained some height and weight recently, and we found out at their 4-year check-up that the difference is nearly an inch in height and three pounds in weight! Now, don't let this "height" of Tessa's fool you into thinking that she's tall or anything! In fact, I was kind of shocked to discover that they are in the 1st and 2nd percentiles for height! They are still little shrimps after all!

Besides those physical differences, they have been revealing personality differences, too. Though I'm not anxious for them to start preschool next year, I know those personalities will bloom even more at that point as well. Right now, Tessa has been surprising us with how open and friendly she is with other little girls they meet. She's standing out as the one who wants to make friends, while Annie hangs back a bit. They have a few girls they play with at pick-up and drop-off at St. Stephen, and these girls will be in their class when they get to kindergarten. It's cute to watch their friendships grow with the girls they'll be in school with for a long time!

On their actual birthday, we celebrated after dinner with gift-opening and ice cream. We were all a little exhausted from entertaining a large crowd the day before, so we had a low-key evening complete with leftover rainbow cake and rainbow sherbert.

And presents!

Megan and Bridget were especially proud to give Tessa and Annie some hand-made bunkbeds (otherwise known as shoeboxes!), complete with little pillows and blankets they helped sew. (It was a fun little project to make with them while Tessa and Annie were sleeping earlier that week!)

They were all smiles that week for their four-year check-up that coincided with Mary's 18-month check-up...until they all got four shots each! I have never dealt with such crazy crying from so many children at once as I did dragging them back to the car afterwards! I was woefully unprepared for these shots and the effect it would have on these three!

These girls are a handful every day, individually...

(Annie)

(Tessa)

and together!

How do I describe the sweetness that these two exude? I'm remiss at documenting all of the cute little things they say on a daily basis, which is a shame. They have been described as sounding like little chipmunks with their chatter - both high-pitched and hard to understand. I think that's pretty accurate, but I also think that will change with school next year. They still say "ours" as a collective possessive  (ie. "ours teacher is Coach Courtney") and they mispronounce words like little (they say "yittle"). Right now, I enjoy their little baby voices and don't want that to change!

Recently, I had sweetness just swirling around me when I took them to the grocery store with Mary. Tessa and Annie occupied the big part of the shopping cart, and Mary was asleep in the carrier I was wearing. They were so good in the store, especially as I piled groceries under them, around them, and on them. It was a rare pleasant shopping trip! Just as we were in line to check out, we all noticed some rowdy boys running around with toys from the toy aisle, sliding all over the ground and shrieking at the top of their lungs. Annie stood up, surrounded by our food for the week, and announced, loud enough for me and the customers in nearby lanes to hear, "Ooh, those boys are running around and not listening to their mommy. I would never do that to me sweet Mommy!" I appreciated the sentiment, but she is a sweet, sweet liar ;)

Not to be outdone, Tessa had her own cute moment not five minutes later. We had just arrived at the van, unloaded the grocery bags, and created some leg room for the little munchkins in the cart. Tessa spoke up in her cute little chipmunk voice and said, "Oh, Mommy! You still need to unload some groceries!" She was referring to the two of them, and she thought it was so funny, she giggled the whole way home :)

How have four years passed by with these two babies of ours?