Happy St. Patrick's Day

 Growing up, I don't remember giving St. Patrick's Day too much attention.  And I'm part Irish!  Now schools and parents spend a lot of time and energy on St. Patty's Day.  Apparently, Leprechaun visit people's homes.  Two different people I know had Leprechaun turn their toliet water green and leave candies for their kids.  The schools have a lot of Leprechaun crafts and Serafina's class had a Leprechaun come to the room during recess and leave gold coins.  So I guess St. Patrick's Day is a big deal, but I clarified that no Leprechaun will be visiting our home.

I did pick out some green shirts for them to wear to school.  Here they are posing with their Leprechaun.

Goofballs in green.

Serafina in class about to find some gold (chocolate) coins.

 When I picked her up, she had this snake around her arm.

 When I picked Leo up he had this seriously goofy Leprechaun hat on.  The lion he's holding is to represent how March "comes in like a lion and out like a lamb".  Unless you're in California and the weather is amazing most of the time.

 After school we went back to the school's field so Leo could practice some batting.  Then the kids played on the upper graders' playground.  Here's Serafina showing off some serious monkey skills.

 When Leo was yelling about me taking his video/picture, this is what he was doing.

Baseball Opening Day

Today was opening day for baseball.  In the morning, the team had pictures.  Leo's coach had sent an email about needing some assistant coaches and it looks like he had plenty of volunteers.  They've got five coaches total.  Pretty cool.  Or maybe they won't actually help and just did it for the free t-shirts.  

Pictures were early in the morning and then there were opening day ceremonies.  

This year he's playing the next division up from T-Ball so his group wasn't the last ones to take the field.  

 In the afternoon, the kids had their first game.  Here they are listing to Coach Dan prep them for their game.

 Leo didn't have very strong at bats.  During his first turn batting, he couldn't hit the pitches (the coaches do the pitching at this level) and he turned down the chance to use the "T".  His second at bat he let them bring out the "T" after he missed the thrown pitches.

 He got to play catcher, which he liked.  Here he is getting geared up.

 Then he was in the outfield for one inning and shortstop for another.  He did a good job at shortstop and got a chance to catch and throw.

 Nana is visiting so she was cheering him on but also helping keep Serafina entertained during our long day of baseball.

Nursery and Golf field trip

Serafina's class had another field trip yesterday.  They started at a local nursery.  

Each kid got to plant some flowers and take them home.

Then they toured around the nursery a bit.

Ms. Virginia works at the nursery and was showing them around.

Serafina was having fun with her friend Mia.

Admiring the marigolds.

After the nursery, we went next door to the mini-golf course.

It was pretty much chaos and none of the kids really were able to hit the ball.

But they had fun...

especially fishing their balls out of the water.

Preschool fun

It was my turn to work in the preschool classroom.  It wasn't the greatest timing since I was recovering from the Tahoe trip and the time change was throwing me off too.  But the four-year-olds are a pretty good group, so it was a smooth day.  

Here's Serafina participating in a counting activity during circle time.  

She loves the monkey bars at recess.  Here she is showing off her skills.  

After school, her friend Kembrie came over for a playdate and they played dress up.

Skiing and Snow fun

We had another ski weekend, or as Serafina likes to call it, "our forth Tahoe".  We were up at the same time as some of our our housemates.  Saturday was a beautiful sunny day.  The kids were excited to go out and ski with their friends.  

 Here's Leo with Carlo waiting for the chair lift.  Carlo has a GoPro camera on his helmet.  His parents told me that watching video from his helmet cam requires some dramamine.

 In the afternoon, the little kids were done skiing so I took them on a walk while the big boys went skiing with the dads.

Niko is just one day older than Serafina and they get along splendidly.  Niko wore his ski helmet because he didn't have a hat and he wanted to wear his goggles since it was bright out.

 We took him to see the Fairytale House.  He wasn't all that impressed.

 They had fun in the snow though.

 Not interested in a picture.

Here's a video Tom took of Leo and Carlo skiing together today.  Leo is in the front.  

I accidentally left my phone at home for the whole weekend.  I wasn't sure if I would survive, but I did.  We got home a little late (late departure, extra traffic) so the kids went to bed pretty late.  I'm hoping they aren't too cranky tomorrow.  

Baseball season starts

I wasn't able to join Leo on his class's field trip to a farm yesterday.  Serafina had a dance class I didn't want her to miss.  Leo was disappointed, but he was pretty cheerful when I watched him load onto the bus. 

 Today Leo had his first baseball practice of the season.  His coach seems really nice and he's excited about playing again.

 He lost another tooth tonight.  I pulled it out for him and it bled more than either of us expected.  We decided daddy can be in charge of all future removals.  He's got quite a gap in the front now.

The best part about Leo's baseball team is that they practice and play most of their games at our local park that is walking distance from our house.  Last year's field didn't even have a playground.  Serafina is so happy to be at her familiar playground while Leo practices.  She's mastered the art of swinging and is so happy just doing that.  

Shades

Leo failed his vision test at school, so the district nurse recommended he have his eyes rechecked.  I took him today and though his prescription has changed slightly, the kind of problem he has prevents him from seeing 20/20 even with glasses.  The eye doctor said he might improve with time and by wearing his glasses, which he is very good about.  He had his eyes dialated today and his eyes are healthy.  He had to wear these geeky sunshades for a little while though.