Tball pics

Here are a few pics of Mason playing tball. Apparently in tball they pitch to them now, so he gets 3 pitches and if he doesn't hit it then they bring out the tee for them to hit off of. So far he has hit the ball 3 times and he was proud.

In his stance ready to hit (doesn't he look so little?)

Just missed it
His preferred way of batting :)

Surprise! Betcha thought I would never blog again

yah I didn't think I had it in me to actually get back on the wagon and get to blogging again. No one told me that 3 kids would be this much work :) Here are a few updates on the boys and a pic of them in their dirty but matching shirts where they are actually all looking at the camera!



Tball games started twice a week on Tues and Friday a few weeks ago. Let's just say Mason is improving! I took pictures last week but have to get them downloaded off the camera... so give me a few days but I have pictures. He actually hit the ball for the first time last week when the coach pitched to him. We were so proud. Tuesday night he started hustling and actually running after the ball even when it wasn't near him. There is light at the end of the tunnel after all! So that's the good Mason update, the bad Mason update could take me pages and pages to write since he has turned into someone else's child that surely isn't my sweet boy I will just sum it up with a story. Tuesday morning I asked him to do something several times, he ignored me over and over and I finally grabbed his arm and made him look at me and told him again. He looked at me and said, "I said NO." And then it gets better. I was so mad I marched him up to his room and put him in time out. He was on the bed I shut the door and stood there to take my deep breath. All of a sudden I hear him singing the tune the farmer and the dell, only the words he was singing went something like this, "I hate my mommy, I hate my mommy, hi ho the derio I hate my mommy." Yah my sweet boy, my first born, the first rotten child I have had to deal with is pushing me to my parenting limit. So I keep reminding myself that this too shall pass and this is good practice because there is two more where that came from. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Easton: Well he's on the heals of Mason that is for sure. Monkey see and Monkey do. He tries to talk back, but coming out the mouth of a 2.5 year old who can't really enunciate things with an attitude it really just ends up being cute and comical all at the same time. They have been spending a lot of time playing with each other and I love it. I always longed for the day when they would be cute little play buddies. Mason is pretty bossy but Easton is starting to stand his ground some.

Sutton: Well he's the baby and he gets his way nearly all the time. I understand now why the baby of every family is spoiled. It's hard not to spoil them when you know they are your last. For example, the day Mason turned 1, I started taking his bottle away, a week later it was gone. With Easton he started liking a sippy cup so much at 10 months I took the bottle away and never looked back. And then there's the baby, 13 months and well he loves his bottle and well I love rocking him and letting him have his bottle at least at night and sometimes at nap time too. Not sure who is having a harder time giving it up, me or him. But he's the baby...and it's the only time he even remotely acts like one. His newest craze is climbing... well maybe not new because he has always loved to climb but he's getting more adventurous, climbing smaller and higher things than ever before. I found him dancing in the middle of the kitchen table last week. He has learned to push things around so that he can climb on them to climb on other things. So he climbed on the booster seat that was on the floor onto the kitchen chair and then climbed on the kitchen table. He was so proud he danced and clapped. Who wants to bet he'll have the first broken bone?

Other than that exciting news I can't say much else is happening. I get to be a single mom for a week starting Saturday while Jake attends a conference in Denver. I admit I am extremely jealous... can you imagine a whole week alone to sleep in peace? Yah me neither. Hope he gets a little lonely while I am going insane here alone... he better not enjoy it as much as I fantasize that I would. ha ha ha.

OK one last thing because when you don't blog for a month it gets wordy. The kids and I have always been fortunate that I can work full time by having an unconventional schedule so that we can be home together on Tuesday and Thursday each week. Our daycare allowed us to come only 3 days a week. The world came crashing down yesterday when I got a letter saying that they were going to start requiring us to do 5 days a week and they were raising rates as well and it would be year round not just during the school year. Essentially this change would set us back more than $10,000 per year. Yes you read that right. So we are now looking for new childcare. I spent the entire day on Wed calling places and getting references, etc... I think I have found the perfect combo for all the kids with preschool, daycare, etc... but for both preschool and the daycare they won't know if they have room for us this fall until June 1st. So we wait in limbo. So if you can send lots and lots and lots of positive vibes it would be much appreciated. This was so distressing and I just hope that the outcome will be even better than what we had before.

That's it from the Koller house. See you next post... whenever that might be. :)

Let the games begin!

Yah I am a slacker who hasn't updated the blog in 2 weeks... sorry. :)

Mason started playing tball for the first time this spring. He had his first practice last week. We went as a family to watch and see how he did. Here's a bit of a play by play for you. First they had the kids run the bases, which he was good at because he does it after Jake's softball games. Then they split them up and put some of them in the field while the others practiced hitting off the tee. Mason is proudly standing in the infield when a HUGE dump truck goes down the road. He yells as loud as he can, "Daddy, did you see that dump truck?" I giggle and look at Jake, he's not quite as amused. A few seconds later another construction vehicle goes by and the same response. Turns out he's much more interested in construction vehicles than playing tball.

So then they switch and he gets to come up and bat. All those whiffle balls he hit so well off the plastic tee with the plastic bat at home didn't prepare him in anyway to hit a real ball with a metal bat. At one point Jake looked at me and said, "he's (expletive) horrible." I giggled again and said, well it's only the first day.

So fast forward to this week where he did much better. He actually fielded the ball a few times and looked like he knew what he was doing. A minor glitch did occur with the batting; turns onutn tee ball they actually pitch the ball to them and give them 3 chances to hit it before placing it on the tee. I was a bit confused since when I played tball it was tball because you actually hit off the tee. And turns out several of his teammates can actually hit the ball when it is tossed to them. Let's just say we need to work on Mason's swing, but he might have a bright future as a golfer!

To conclude let me tell you something we didn't know after day one and that is he's probaby the youngest kid on the team, he barely made the cut off and some of the kids on his team are getting ready to turn 6 and will be in 1st grade this fall, he won't even be in kindergarten for over a year. So he's team baby.

I think it is also important to note that although we made fun of his inability we really have no expectations other than he have fun. Jake taught him the most important thing is to have fun! I guess time will tell if he has any talent; but we realize that just because one or both parents are good at something that in no way means the kids will develop that skill. The running joke between Jake and I is that since we are an attorney and professor that we will just be happy if our kids graduate from high school... so I guess sticking with our mantra for life then him hitting a ball or two will make us proud!

I will try to remember to take pictures next week so you can see how cute it is with all the little guys and girls!

Happy 1st Birthday Sutton!

Here's a look at the past year. It was probably the fastest year of my life!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Birthday Teaser!!

Happy Birthday to our baby (and to me too)!

Here's a teaser pic of him eating his cake yesterday, more to come tomorrow with a slideshow of the past year!

Matchy match

I take great pleasure is finding matching clothes for all three boys and then dressing them alike. I am sure some people think it is silly but I think it is kind of fun. I realized the other day just how much I must be wearing off onto Mason. He went up to get dressed and asked if he could wear his Hawkeye jersey. I said of course. He came down in his basketball jersey with some non matching red mesh shorts and proclaimed, "I got some clothes for Easton too." He had brought down Easton's Hawkeye jersey and some non matching green mesh shorts. I had to laugh when I asked if he liked to match Easton he said, "yes!" I am sure this won't last for long, but I have it here on camera just to commemorate the occasion. Keep in mind it was about 40 degrees out that day too! Luckily we were staying home.

This weekend we are having our last first birthday party ever! Sutton turns one Monday and we are having his party on Sunday. Hard to believe it has been nearly a year since he was born. It was most definitely the fastest year of our life! He loves balls and the mini basketball tends to be his favorite so I thought a sports theme would be appropriate! Here is his invitation that a friend of mine made for me. Stay tuned, blog post next week will be his 1 year tribute and of course birthday party pictures.

And here's a pic of him from the other day, he has quite the personality and loves to make people laugh.

Contagious diseases vs. the Koller Family

So some of you noticed once again that I skipped a week of the blog; and some of you guessed accurately that we were sick-AGAIN! This winter has been so long and so germy. I am ready for spring. In the fight against contagious diseases we are losing the battle. The tally thus far:

2 cases of Strep Throat (Me and Easton)
1 case of Impetigo (Mason)
2 cases of Influenza (Jake and I)
1 sinus infection (me)
Multiple Ear infections
Various runny noses, sore throats coughs (the whole family)

It's been one thing after another around here, hard to keep up when someone is always sick and especially hard when the parents are sick for a month on end. I joked that I am going to just open the window and keep the heat on if we don't start getting better... I think I am serious! :)

Sadly I have no Easter pics of the boys and their baskets or finding eggs. Jake and I both had to skip Easter due to our flu, thanks to my mom for coming to get them and for taking them to Easter dinner. The boys got their baskets that night when they got home, I didn't even think to take pictures. Guess there is always next year!

So stay tuned to see what the Koller kids will develop next; will spring ever come?