under penalty of law...

Remember those scary words that were at the top of the tags on our pillows, cushions, blankets and various items growing up? Remember the fear that you felt the first time you had removed one of those big annoying white tags, to be told by some joker in your family that you were heading to jail? I can sure recall the feeling of being scared to death that I had really done wrong.
Tonight Christopher decided on his own to cut the big tags off of the new chairs that I bought them for camping. Dan took full advantage of the opportunity to freak him out with the threats of being jail-bound--a real law breaker. Being the sensitive boy that he is, he wasn't sure if he was going to laugh or cry....but since we laughed with him and shared our tales of fright from our childhood, he decided that it was funny. kind of.

we all cheered them on....

It was family day at the t-ball game. Well, our family made a day of it. G'ma and G'pa came up to watch the excitement, and Uncle Mark, Aunt Deenie, and Catie-Lou came across town for the big event, too!

Brr! It was a bit chilly with a few scattered rain drops.

Nothing like a big batch of french fries and lunch from the Kennedy School to warm us all up!

easy riders

..but you'll look sweet,

upon a seat,

on a bicycle made for 3...

sunshine!

Ah, what a beautiful day it was in Portland today!! We spent pretty much all of it outside pulling weeds, watering flowers, looking for bugs, digging, and cleaning things up---including my car.

Chris loves his cousins

Christopher really, really loves all of his cousins. My favorite part is that he never forgets Nate's mole. ever.

It's all about Susan Boyle

YOU MUST WATCH THIS VIDEO.

This video is so awesome, it is well worth 7 minutes of your time.

I challenge you to watch it and not have tears well up in your eyes, or at least a good size lump in your throat when it's all done.

Trust me---they will be tears of joy.

twins

The boys had 'twin day' at school last week. Exciting concept for these two, huh? So we found matching outfits (which actually was kind of exciting, because they have not been dressed exactly the same since they were about 10 months old!) and we added some matching features--- to Chris it was a brown mole on his chin, and a 'T' scar on his eyebrow. Nate got one more little mole between his nose and mouth. Dead ringers.Yesterday morning Christopher grabbed an empty prescription container off of the counter and popped the child-proof cap right off as if he'd done it hundreds of time in his adult life. Dan and I looked at each other, wondering how that had happened.

"How did you get that lid off, Christopher?"

"Well, it says right here...just 'hold tab down and turn." "That's what I did."

(duh, mom!)

chocolate bunnies

We had a wonderful day celebrating Easter over at Mark and Claudine's. When we returned home, I was cleaning up our Easter mess and I found Chris and Nate's chocolate bunnies, which were neatly tucked back into the boxes that they came in. I pulled them out and found it to be quite amusing that they had each (independently) eaten the same body parts off of their bunnies..tips of ears, faces, bellies, and tails---clearly the 'good' parts of a bunny.

colorful eggs

Coloring the eggs like scientists...
...and hoping that the Easter Bunny stops by tonight.

First T-Ball game

Chris catches a ball during warm-up.

Tonight was the first game for Guttermans t-ball team. Both Chris and Nate were crazy with excitement all day in anticipation. The game was great, and the fun thing about t-ball is that everyone is a winner. There is no score kept, everyone bats, everyone runs, everyone tags home plate, nobody gets out. It's the feel good sport.

Coach Carl asked Nate to be catcher during the first inning of the game. This made his day....it was his dream position. He put on all of the gear and did a great job.

Waiting for their turn to bat.

Nate getting ready to head to 2nd base.

Amid all of the action, Chris heads to second base. Run Chris, run!

Doing their 'good game' line-up after the game....the most important part of the game!

Opening day...and it feels so real!

Today it feels real.

"Mama, I am like a real sports guy!" said Nate...beaming from the inside out.

Opening day ceremonies for the Wilshire-Riverside Little League was this morning and it was a fun event, complete with over 500 kids, a pancake feed, the national anthem, and each team being introduced as they took a lap around the bases and high-fived hundreds of hands along the way.

Guttermans Supply has black jerseys. Nate chose number 5 because he is 5, Chris chose number 7 because it was a close match to Mark Grace's # 17 from his cubs days.
Here they come! It's hard to see, but this is their team running the field, with Coach Carl in the front. I especially loved watching Nate as he was heading out with his team. I honestly believe that in his head, this was Wrigley Field on opening day. It just didn't get any better than that moment of fame and clapping.

Spring Break getaway

Spring break, Seattle style......brrrrr! We all wore our puffy vests. Quite a rainbow of colors! Chris, Nate and I went to Seattle for the weekend to hang with Aunt Susie and the cousins. We had lofty plans of a ferry ride and other Seattle excursions, but we due to the awful weather we spent most of our time at the Cotter household....which was perfectly fine! We ate lots of yummy meals and the cousins played together.

We did squeeze in a quick trip to the zoo on Sunday morning and the best part was watching the gorilla mama and her baby. Seriously...it was about the cutest thing I've seen in a long time. I could have stood there all day watching them and their human-like qualities. Cute, cute, cute.

Cousins cruising at the zoo.

Dance party!! Now I know what life is like for all of those households with 'tweens and their love for High School Musical soundtrack. Oh my.

6 years

Today is our 6 year wedding anniversary. As they say, time sure flies when you're having fun! Dan had a good idea for how to spend the day, so we took the boys for a drive to Forest Grove to show them where we got married, and have lunch at McMenamins Grand Lodge. They thought it was cool. They ran around in the room where our ceremony was. They liked the ramp to the upstairs of the main building. It was our first time back there since that very perfectly fun weekend.
Happy Anniversary, Daniel! Here's to many more. :)

Welcome, Little Mezmur!

We're getting a new neighbor tonight! Her name is Mezmur and she is about 8 months old. She is coming here all the way from Ethiopia. Our neighbors Autumn and Dan (and Rhett!) have been gone for the past few weeks on a trip to Ethiopia to adopt her. The boys and I made this welcome home banner for their door, because as you can imagine, we are giddy with excitement to meet this child. Welcome to your new family, Mezmur. They will love you more than you can ever imagine! You can read more about her, and their travels, here.

T-Ball has started!

Tonight the boys had their first t-ball practice of the season. They have been waiting ALL year to play ball and be on a team. Several of their friends from preschool are playing with them, so that makes it even more fun.

Meeting Coach Carl and some of the other players. It was a rainy and cold practice, so they used the covered area at Faubion. Hopefully, next time they can get on the field.