Tanner LOVES t-ball

Tanner started playing t-ball this year and LOVED every minute.

Maybe it was the cleats that gave him super-hero running powers. He'd put them on and ask everyone to watch how fast he could run!!!

Or the fact that there's absolutely no rules -- everyone gets to bat each inning and everyone always makes it home.

And when you make it home, there's an unwritten rule that you have to slide into home plate.  Tanner does this... and once he was sliding in full force with hands/head first -- but didn't like the outcome when his elbow and hands were all scraped up.  Ouch!!!  Now he's learning how to slide feet first.

His favorite position is catcher.  It's every kids dream position as you're guaranteed to get the ball after each hitter as the ball is always thrown to home plate and put back on the t-ball stand.  And wearing the fancy helmet is another plus too.  

Tanner got a kick out of the stories Anthony would tell of when Grandpa Callison used to play baseball and how catcher was his favorite position too. 

 

Some of the other positions -- you never know what you're going to get.  Outfield is a bit risky -- you have to wait for the ball, and when it does finally come to him, about half the time he's paying attention, and it doesn't take long before there's another few kids chasing the same ball and they all dive/chase/fight after who gets to throw it.  

Ready Position!

All over it!

And so is his teammate :)

Batters up! But let’s be honest.  The HIGHLIGHT of t-ball is getting to BAT!   Tanner does a great job batting, he makes contact with the ball right away and gets the job done!  Although at times he still gets his hands in the wrong order…but just a minor detail :) 

Here’s the play-by-play

And there’s just something about these lil boys all dressed up in baseball clothes that makes them simply adorable!

Tanner played on a neighborhood team, the Cedar Creek Dragons,  and enjoyed getting to know a few more kids that will go to school with him.

At the close of his season, Coach handed out awards to all the team members.   Tanner was SO excited and showed his medal to everyone.

And he deserved it!  Playing is hard work.  At the end of every game, Tanner would be totally exhausted. 

Off Season

Back in April, we got a t-ball set so he could begin to practice. Tanner and the neighbor kid, Madden, loved to play.  Madden would always try to give Tanner little pointers, just like he was his coach.  Even though Madden is over 2 years older than Tanner, I absolutely love how those two play together.

 

Tanner takes a swing

Madden’s turn to swing…and at the end…you can see Ms. Brooke cheering them on.  Brooke wasn’t even 1 yet in this picture, and it’s amazing how much Brooke she’s changed!

Madden up to bat

Getting ready for his first official practice!

And let’s not forget, Tanner’s number one fan!  When her nap schedule allowed, Brooke was at every game cheering him on!

Memorial Day in the Big D

We started off summer right – kicking it off with a vacation to Dallas.  It’s our favorite place to go – you can’t beat the company of all our family and friends, yummy food, and so many fun kid-friendly things to do.  But most of all, we love the PEOPLE!

This time, we decided to skip the driving for 8+ hours with two kiddos and take a luxury we rarely experience – FLYING!  But our 1.5 hr flight turned into a nightmare with a 4 hour delay and we didn’t get off the plane until close to Midnight, let alone tucked into bed til nearly 1:30 am.  And any hopes of Brooke finally falling asleep on the plane were sadly never met.  Rather we had a bouncing, crabby, wide-awake lil girl with all of our other bags of tricks completely exhausted at the airport.  And so now, we’ve learned, driving isn’t quite so bad.

But it was STILL worth the trip and we loved our time in Dallas. 

Memorial Day weekend was totally low-key, hanging out with all the family.  Tanner was so excited for the PLANE, and then to see all his COUSINs, and then UNCLE KENNETH & AUSTIN, he was just beyond thrilled.

At one point he told me, “Mom, I think I have more cousins than friends!”  And it’s probably true—and thankfully all of our cousins are our closest friends, and we hope it ALWAYS stays that way. 
So while we did manage a few trips to our favorite places, most of the time we just stayed at home and played with cousins. 

Ft. Worth Zoo
The last time I was here, I’m pretty sure I was like 5 years old.  and Anthony was with me, but I only know that cause there’s pictures to prove it. 

When lived in Dallas, we always took Tanner to the Dallas Zoo since it was much closer.  And we were glad we went to Ft. Worth Zoo. 

First up, the monkeys with brand new teeny tiny babies (which sadly, the camera didn’t capture).  And one of the monkeys did something I hope to never, ever see again in my life, involving bodily discharge and eating. 

And this Gorilla was just chillin out next to the kiddos – while Cassidy was apparently trying her best to imitate :)

Some of our favorites animals included the elephant chowing down on the hay

The giraffes desperately reaching for the tall tree leaves

The rhino taking a swim in the water

A Siberian tiger—a rare albino version – giving us the stare down

And this bear was hilarious – he couldn’t sit still and kept pacing back and forth

Brown bear w/ants in it’s pants

This eagle strutting his stuff – anyone that walked by, he’d flaunt his wings out and let him know he was the boss!

And these flamingos were the noisiest bunch I’ve ever seen.  It’d be totally quiet, and then one would lead, and pretty soon ALL of them were squawking at the top of their lungs. 

The kids enjoyed climbing up on these Kangaroos, but I enjoyed seeing the real deal.  Not sure I’ve ever seen one all up-close-and-personal.

And we got to see the tail-end of a show, and then see the star turkey, again flaunting its brilliant feathers for us all to see.

We also enjoyed Texas Barnyard – petting a real armadillo – and then letting the kids run around in the play area – best part we enjoyed some quality chat time, momentarily kid-free, in air conditioning. 

And Brooke enjoyed gazing at the animals as well, although she spent most of the time in the comfort of her stroller.

Every now and then, she convinced others to help her out:


Surprisingly, it was slightly overcast and the zoo had tons of shade – making it perfect day to go.  We also loved having Anthony along too – usually he doesn’t get to join us on our excursions cause he’s at work. 
But afterwards, we still had to stop for ice cream – where Tanner got his absolute favorite BLUE ice cream!


Perot Museum of Nature & Science
This museum was finished right after we moved, of course, but we still got a membership & LOVE to go see all the super cool, high tech displays:

Tanner’s favorite had to be racing against a T-rex with his cousin Madison:

T-Rex Race

Or posing like a T-Rex next to the real deal with his cousin Leah:


Or playing with dinosaur-sized puzzles:

But there’s way more than just dinosaurs:

There’s a cool space area where Tanner learned about the solar system:

And a decked out kids area, where Tanner loves playing with the city building blocks – and even cooked us some food over the campfire:


And this is where Brooke really had the most fun, trying to “OWN” each walk-way/bridge/play area she came across:

And while the steepness of this bridge made is designed for much older kids, there was no telling her otherwise.  I wonder where she gets it from??

And she thought this draw bridge was hilarious.

She even tried to dance as she went, except of course, when I attempt to video tap her:

My brother Brendan lives in Dallas too -- so we were excited about getting to see him -- meeting up for Tex-Mex one night and Fro-Yo another.  Two of our favorite foods -- with one of our favorite persons.  Love it!!

And we did a million other fun things there too, but chasing after a toddler isn’t very conducive to picture taking when you only have an iPhone.

And anytime we were in the car, both kids would instantly fall asleep, even at 8:30 in the morning.  Poor kids were totally sleep deprived.


Most of our trip we hung out for family, but made a few exceptions here and there.

Like church at the Lake Highlands ward. 

Visiting our old neighbor Aunt Nell who was a few days shy of her 91st birthday.

Splash-park with cousins on Memorial Day – only it was overcast and freezing cold water.  Oh well.  We tried :)

Game night at the Petersen’s with some old friends Anthony grew up with

Park play-date in the park with some friends – if only the rain would have stayed away 


Fro-yo with a favorite buddy


And even though Brynlee and Caden were in San Antonio over Memorial Day weekend – we got to hang out later in the week.  And lucky for Tanner, he got a two-for-one and got extra playtime when he got to hang out ALL the next day too while mommy went to work. Grandma got sick unexpectedly and offered to watch BOTH kids. Not sure what I would do without AMAZING friends.  Seriously LOVE her and these two little ones together!

And I even managed to squeeze in some work! I worked half a day in my old office and joked that I’ve never been so excited to go to work.  Now that I work part-time remotely from KC for Dallas office, it’s still not quite the same and definitely miss working the people too.  So a lil fun mixed with productively is always a good thing!

Anthony surprised me on my b-day with a dinner at my favorite restaurant, Chuy’s, with some of my favorite people.  I was shocked he was able to pull it off without me knowing about it, but was so glad he did!!!  It was so fun to get away for a night out without the kiddos and catch up with some old friends!

And even though it’s been almost a year since we’ve moved away, when we go back to visit and reconnect with family and friends – it was like we were never gone.  And that’s the best part!!!

Tanner’s Preschool Spring Show

 

Oh my holy cuteness.  If I already wasn't in LOVE with Tanner's preschool, this definitely sealed the deal.

Tanner's preschool class hosted a Spring Show and we got a little glimpse into some of the things they had learned during the year:

Haitian Alphabet Song

There were a few other adorable parts that I didn’t video tape – like counting by fives and counting by tens.   They would do it in different voices – and Tanner especially enjoyed the cowboy version. 

Sign Language Alphabet

 

“Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” Bell Song

And the grand finale was a play.  Tanner had been so excited about this – he’d come home telling me the ENTIRE plot every day – and just thought it was so fun to dress up like a monster and throw mud pies…at least until…ok…you’ll just have to watch the show :) 

“A Preschool Fairy Tale” Play

We were so proud of my lil preschool graduate!!  He has a tendency to be shy, but he didn't let it show.  He sang all the songs and knew all his parts. 

He has enjoyed being a part of Little Learner's Preschool this year.  He ALWAYS comes home with the cutest projects, like paper cup rocket launchers, Santa Christmas count-down, handmade dinosaur fossils, and no matter the unit, Ms. Bonnie went ALL out to make it fun and educational.

Tanner is right on track academically to start Kindergarten – he can identify almost numbers up to 20 and knows/recognizes each of the letters of the alphabet.  He likes to write his name and other words, but will sometimes start from the bottom rather than the top, although if you ask him where letters should start, he’ll always say the top.  He’s beginning to sound out words and loves to just look through books, and is always asking what words mean.  He also know basic math addition and subtraction, and the other day he was doodling with a small white board he started “practicing” on a piece of blank paper and writing/talking  2+2 = 4. 

The only hard part is deciding whether he should start Kindergarten next year.  Since he has a July birthday, it’s always been something at the back of my mind.  But there’s no blatantly obvious reason on why he should be held back.  And I’m sure he would do great if he started Kindergarten – he would love it.  But then I think about the the teenager years, leaving for college or a mission one year earlier, and I can’t help but think how much EXTRA good one more year can be.  And how I’ll have one extra year with him before he leaves home.   So I’m totally on the fence about it, and will be making a decision soon, but I’ll be honest if I wasn’t completely torn.  

But anyhow, back to Tanner’s Preschool.  This was such a breath air for us -- Tanner LOVED every minute of it!! In the fall, he struggled at another preschool environment where he would could home in tears because of one kid.  I dismissed it as first thinking he was still "adjusting" to moving to Kansas, where previously in Dallas, in his old preschool class -- 3 out of the 5 were close friends from church he had grown up with and he was surrounded by kids that just LOVED Tanner.  But when I dropped him off at school, the student would routinely yell out, "I don't like you Tanner!" in front of everyone.   We talked to the teacher and waited for it to get better -- but this kid was just a hard one to control and it didn't really get better.  And some days he’d come home telling me how he was his best friend, but then it would switch back the next.  And I know kids will eventually have to deal with this sort of thing, but not this young.  Preschool should be fun and exciting - not something you dread.

Then I found about Ms Bonnie's preschool --and after one lesson -- fell in LOVE.  She taught Kindergarten for years, but eventually decided to have one out of her home, and her WHOLE first level was all decked out for preschool.  She's a member of our church, along with most of the children, and we could feel the love and warmth emulated by her and other students.

Teachers will always hold a special place in my heart. We LOVED Ms Kennedy last year at Ridgewood Park in Dallas, and LOVED Ms Bonnie this year. There's just no words to explain the gratitude I feel for their individual efforts to teach with love and patience. I hope this trend continues as he starts elementary school, cause so far, we've been so BLESSED to have truly wonderful teachers.  Thanks Bonnie!!!