Colby's 5th Birthday

Colby wanted to go swimming for his 5th birthday. There weren't many people that he wanted to invite. It ended up being the Hillard clan and grandparents. He had fun, of course!

Aunt Janell's gift arrived on Colby's birthday, so the boys put it together.
Balloons from Mema!

My loving big brother.

A cupcake platter. The frosting started sinking in between the cupcakes as it got warmer.

Notice how buddy Grayson has his mouth covered, most likely by a sibling, so he won't blow out the candles early. He he!

Colby couldn't wait to use his new Bakugan umbrella.

Tball 2010

So, Mr. 05/05/2005 missed the birthday cutoff at Glenwood by 5 days this year so he got to play for the Vancouver Parks & Rec team. He, of course, has been waiting to play since he was 2- "I play Tball", while Brady was still playing T-ball, so he was NOT waiting another year. He will have to play a year of T-ball at Glenwood before he can try out to move up, so next year will be his "official" T-ball year. Unfortunately, he is the little brother of a baseball player so his skills were a little higher than your average first year player. He would tell me the whole way home, "Mom, they don't know the rules. They don't play right." He still had fun though.

Here is his official picture- adorable, I know. So sweet and innocent- yeah, right!

The party at the end of the season with Coach Burl- the man should teach kindergarten. He has soooo much patience with the kids.

Colby and his trophy. The coach even named the team The Tigers, just for Colby.

This was a common sight after a ball was hit. The ENTIRE team, (at least those paying attention), would RUN after every ball. Then it was a dogpile issue. And trust me, even though Colby knows how to play, he would run from 3rd base for a ball hit toward 1st base EVERY time!

Colby hit the ball pretty hard and it would often roll almost to the outfield before anyone could stop it.

Whenever Colby got to play 1st base, he would jump up and down and shout, "Throw it to me!"

You can practically hear him in this picture!

Ok, so with our "Northwest spring" this year, there were many rainouts. Even when we weren't rained out, rain was always threatening in the distance. So, here is a raincoat pic for you all!

"You're out!"

So, technically there are no "outs" in Tball, but if the stars all aligned and a player actually got up out of the dogpile with the ball in hand AND remembered to throw the ball to 1st base, AND the 1st baseman retrieved the ball AND made it to 1st in time to make the play, they should be out, just because that is an impossible task!

Just call me 'catch'!

Annual Seattle Trip

Well, the Tigers only won one of three, but it was a good win. Both of the boys got to see their Tigers (Maggs and Cabby) hit home runs over the weekend. The weather was a little wet, as usual, so the cover was on Friday and Saturday for the night games. But Sunday was sunny and 70- wow. I ran into Ramon Santiago in the elevator on Sunday morning and when I wished him luck he said, (in his thick accent) "It's a great day for baseball. The sun is shining and there is no rain."
Batting practice

Colby was very into getting his hat signed this year. Brady and Todd collected autographs on baseballs. This is Ryan Perry (above).

Brandon Inge- Todd's Tiger

Magglio Ordonez (Colby's Tiger)

Fudge cake at The Cheesecake Factory.

Cheese!

Phil Coke- he went on Saturday morning and finally cut his hair. He said he was tired of it being in his eyes. I'm still not sure if it was a mullet or not. ; )

Road trip- all plugged in to the TV.

Easter Dinner

We invited the family over for Easter dinner this year.

Caught in the Easter baskets- I missed the hunting this year because they started waking me up at 4 am... ugh! I finally told them, at 7, to go and I would be down later.

Dyeing eggs is still a favorite of mine!

Easter 2010

Well, it's that time of year again! Easter Egg Hunting time! Woo hoo! You know the recession has truly hit when the quality of the candy in your eggs is down-graded. But it's all about the hunt, not the prize, right? Although Brady kept telling Colby, "Keep your eye on the prize." Who do you think he takes after?

So, we began our time with the traditional, "Stand by your brother and be nice" photo to commemorate the occasion.

"No bunny ears!" (Is that a peace sign?)

I was pleased to see that the times of the hunt were clearly posted. We wouldn't want anyone to miss out! First the 0-3 year olds hunted- that took forever. They kept tantruming and throwing themselves on the ground. Quite funny. Soooo glad I am not at that stage anymore.

Brady began coaching Colby on how to properly hunt.

#1 Put your head down so that you can duck under the rope when the whistle blows.

#2 Head where no one else is.

#3 When your basket is full, start filling your pockets.

(Did I mention it was about 45 degrees...)

Colby and I were freezing, Brady didn't complain at all...

again, guess who he takes after...

Ok, I've got #1 covered.

Oh no, we have to go in through a gate... so much for rule #1!

This is fun! Notice rule #2 in effect- no one is around!

Here goes rule #3- basket is full- moving on to pockets!

Look at that, Colby followed directions and ran out of basket and pockets while there were still eggs on the ground. He kept trying to pile more in his basket and they kept rolling off. It was quite comical.

Finally, it was time for 7 and over. Oh my, those kids are serious! They were like a huge vacuum. They covered every square inch in about a minute. It was amazing!

So many eggs~ so many kids- BRADY FORGOT HIS OWN RULES!

Mom had to yell to go where no one else is- oh yeah!

Unfortunately, everyone eventually followed him...

Then the hard part began- opening the eggs so that they could use them again next year. Why are they so hard to open? Every year we are the last ones there opening eggs. Ugh!