Baby turtles and baseball ...

... I found this cute little guy in the backyard when I was weeding today. He looks like some kind of slider, and since we have a ton of ponds around here, I am sure he is local. He's staying in a bucket in our house tonight and despite the kids' protests (Will: "Mom, he's so cute! Can we keep him?" Xan: "What's turtle's name?") I'll let him go at one of the ponds tomorrow.

Tonight, both Will and Rodney had baseball games. Actually, Rodney umpired Will's game, which is an OK thing in the league, as long as the umpire can be fair. If Rodney is anything, he is fair, so there was no problem. Will's team did win 20-10 and Will hit the ball three out of three times, got on base twice and scored once.


Here is a shot of him on first base, waiting for the next hit. The next two batters ended up striking out, unfortunately. Can you see Rodney in the background?

Will played left field today.

Umpire dad waved at Xan, who was playing in the empty scorekeepers hut.

Will clapping for his team in the after-game huddle.

We got Xan's preschool spring portraits today. Very cute...

Turtle wrangler...

... just had to share this photo my Dad sent from California for us. It's my nephew, Brandon atop one of the Sulcatta tortoises my parents adopted from me when Will and I moved from Yuma to Pittsfield in 2003. This one is the larger, friendlier of the two, named Papyrus. She barely batted an eye when Brandon climbed aboard, just kept eating.

Our weekend has been restful, yet productive. The nasty thunderstorms we had for four days canceled two of Will's baseball games, so we stuck pretty close to home. Grandma Peggy, Grandma Velma and Grandpa Bill left Thursday at noon for a two-day drive back to Illinois. The kids miss them. Grandma Nancy and GG are scheduled to arrive in Florida Saturday evening. This kids are excited to see them. GG hasn;t seen them since we were all in Illinois for the 4th of July. She's afraid she won't even recognize them! But they will recognize her, so I am sure there won't be a problem ...

So proud of Will...

... we got his report card today... all A's except for a B in math. Way to go, Will! And his teacher had such nice comments about him. We think the B in math might be because he rushes through his tests so he can be the first one done, so he makes careless mistakes. We hope he'll slow down and get straight A's again at the end of the year.

Minis, new kits, Expo coupons and more!

I spent much of my evening pricing fun stuff for the Pleasanton (Bay Area) Scrapbook Expo this weekend. Some of the goodies were these Clear Scraps Minis ... this is the heart mini, which I made in to a little brag book for my Mom, Nancy, for her birthday earlier this month. My Mom, two members of my Krew, Kathi and Jen, and I will hit the road tomorrow morning, taking Interstate 5 north for about 7 hours. Can't wait for the show to start! I'm excited about the new K2R stamps, and the kits below, which will be available on the K2R web site by April 1. And don't forget to get the coupon for the K2R booth of you plan to go!

Baseball Opening Day ...

Will's first baseball game was Saturday and his team, the Yankees, won (we think... the scores aren't the main focus, I guess). Here is a photo of him in his uniform, and with his friend Liam, a second grader at Pleasant Grove.



Will was 1-2 in hitting.



The first hit, he watched the ball go a little too long and didn't manage to run it out. He was quite upset with himself as you can see from this picture:


Will started to cry in the dugout, but after a quick pep talk from Mom and other players on his team, he was ready to head back out there. His second hit not only got him on base, but on to second. He then got batted in by teammates to score a point.

Will plays right field and is actually not bad. He's the one way out there, kind of under the Coca-cola sign.


He stops the ball more often than not and can throw it in accurately. His speed will get better, once he gets more confident in what he is doing, Many of these kids have been playing one or two years already, but he's doing very well.

Xan was there, of course, and can regurgitate any coaching he hears. He's ready to play ball. He got a Mountain Dew instead. That kept him wired for a little bit!


Earlier in the week, Rodney had his first game he umpired. Doesn't he look official?



Rodney will also be heading to Quantico to watch his friend, Jesse, graduate from Officer Candidate School later this week. Grandma Peggy, Grandma Velma and Grandpa Bill will be heading down to spend time with the boys - time I am sure everyone will enjoy.

As for me, I am heading off to California tomorrow. Very early tomorrow. My flight leaves at 6:30 a.m. I have a Scrapbook Expo in Pleasanton this weekend. Wish me luck!

Will's missing another tooth ...

... lost it at school today, bottom left side. Guess the Tooth Fairy is coming to our house again. Also, we got his reading test scores and he is reading at a third grade level. He is in the 92nd percentile in the nation for reading...

Baseball scrimmage ...

Will had his first baseball scrimmage against another team tonight. He did very well. He was a bit bored in his position at right center field, but he didn;t sit down to pick daisies or anything. His coach worked with him on his batting form, too. There is one more practive on Wednesday before Opening day Saturday. Meanwhile, Xan played with his monster trucks, sharing them with other kids, including a cute toddler, ran around and managed to face plant on a metal grate. Fortunately, he missed his nose by turning his head slightly, bruising up his cheek and eye, but, as you'll see below, it didn't phase him much after the initial shock.

Photos from the weekend ...

... we headed to the beach late Sunday afternoon. Despite the menacing clouds, it was 73 degrees and quite comfortable. The boys had a great time playing and Rodney tolerated the sand.



Saturday we cleaned house did the laundry and finished up chores around the house. Xan was eager to learn how to fold laundry, I wonder how long that will last.



Xan also likes mushrooms, we found. Only we can't call them mushrooms. They are "chicken." Apparently nearly everything really does taste like chicken, but I still can't stomach the fungus (except for the illusive Morell mushrooms we hunt for in Illinois, but then again, if you fry and salt just about anything it will taste good!)

Tonight is Will's first baseball scrimmage before Opening Day Saturday. I will try to get some photos to post!

Mini Road Trip...

... Saturday the four Guthries hit the road and headed East, towards Destin. There was a activity planned for each of us to enjoy: The surprise for the kids was that we were going to The Zoo of Northwest Florida. There were two scrapbook stores for me to stop at (if you want details, head over to my scrap blog) and Rodney would get to stop at the Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World in Destin.

We left at noon and didn't get ack until 8 p.m., so the boys, who had gotten up around 6:30 a.m., did not get a nap. Here are the photos...



Peacocks roamed the zoo free and we got pretty close to them, although they did not allow us to pet them.


The otter swam by just as I took this photo.



The boys fed Gabby the Giraffe. The little girl with them happened to be there with her parents and her dad was a student of Rodney's.


Xan was amazed that there were cattle his size.




And, the tigers, of course were cute.


The alligators were one of Will's favorite animals - he had to go see them twice.



These Australian black swans (pictured with their fuzzy gray babies) were pretty aggressive as they grabbed food from your fingers.


These siamangs, a species of monkey, were fun to watch. The 8-month old baby was about 20 inches tall and knew how to play his Mom and Dad. Dad would torment baby, baby would run to Mom, Mom would growl at Dad, Dad would back off, baby would torment Dad when he wasn't looking, starting the cycle back up again.


This backpacked baby taramin was my favorite. His face was the size of a cutie orange.