monday nights at the ballpark

matt has been playing in a church softball league monday nights for a few months now. the team isn't through our church and matt only knows one other guy on the team (his contact to join the team in the first place). let's just say that the team isn't very good - and that is putting it nicely. the kids and i come to the early games. some nights go better than others because i actually watch the game and now that mason can walk he can't stand being in the stroller the whole time.

last night we didn't get to eat dinner before leaving because i was running a little late so i grabbed a few snacks and off we went. it actually worked out well that we were snacking at the game because there weren't as many kids for madelyn to play with and it helped to pass the time just sitting and watching the game. mason even wore his sunglasses quite happily for a bit.

mason favorite thing to do now that he can walk is to 'climb' up on the fence. the picture is from a few weeks ago when he was climbing up near daddy. he usually puts both feet up on the concrete portion. for some reason it just makes him look like such a big boy to me. he does a really good job about staying near me and is just content to work his way up and down the fence. last night the umpire was scolding me for letting him hold on to the fence because a ball could get his fingers. i wanted to say that this isn't my first trip to the ball park but just ended up putting mason back into the stroller instead of trying to keep him off the fence.

matt has two more games to go in the season and only one of those is early enough for all of us to go. it has been nice to take in a game on these lovely summer nights but i think daddy is really ready for the season to be over. the skill level on this team is so low that it has been kind of painful to watch them get slaughtered each week.

and i had to get a picture of the kids in the morning looking out the window in mason's room. every morning when i open the curtains and blinds both kids race over to see what they can see outside. the view from madelyn's room includes the bird feeder and that is usually where they congregate. mason tends to get very, very excited about the view and bangs on the window - scaring away any of the birds that might be on the feeder. yesterday we even saw our first squirrel hanging from the feeder which was pretty exciting.

speaking of mornings... mason has been doing better than i could have ever imagined with sleeping in the toddler bed! this morning he surprised us by waking up earlier than normal, getting out of bed without setting off the monitor, and banging loudly on the door. and then he just waited silently for us to come and get him. hopefully, he will keep on this path of sleeping in his bed easily. love.