"BIG ME" and "MINI ME"

Since the day Jonah was born, he has looked like my (Sheri's) brother, Liam. As he has grown, he continues to resemble his Uncle Liam, not just in appearance, but in mannerisms, speech patterns, abilities (Jonah loves to climb, flip, swing and my brother was a skater). It is uncanny, especially as they've not spent huge amounts of time together or even seen each other all that often!

Jonah thinks this is pretty cool and really looks up to his Uncle Liam. Because Liam started calling Jonah "Mini Me," Jonah came up with the nickname "Big Version of Me" for Liam, or just "Big Me."

Liam visited this weekend, along with Bridget, his girlfriend, who is responsible for all the great photos. (thanks, Bridget!) We celebrated my Mom's and Liam's birthdays and just enjoyed being together!

Sheri, Liam, Cindy, and Mom (Helen)

Boys clowning on the trampoline


Bridget and Liam

Jonah's Trombone Solo

Jonah took band for the first time this year (4th grade). He has had piano lessons for about a year so he had a slight advantage over other classmates. His instrument of choice was the trombone. Although he sounded like a goose with laryngitis at times, he found himself sounding pretty good and actually enjoying the instrument. (He wanted his own trombone for Christmas!)

Aunt Debbie was on hand in June to make a video of parts of the 4th grade band concert. Hope you enjoy it as much as his parents did!

What's More American than Baseball?

Toby has signed up for coach-pitch baseball this year. While the stands may not offer quite the concession offerings I would prefer, I can certainly seat myself right up close to the action! After the bases were installed and the dead mouse was properly disposed of, the first game began!

The warm-up activities included playing catch with your teammates. Take this comment with a father's bias, but Toby is actually quite a good throw.

Toby watches the ball carefully while playing second base. Or maybe he was between first and second - they don't really keep track yet.

One thing you should know about Toby - he's very detail oriented. His t-ball coach from a couple years back taught him "point, step, throw!" and he still does it.

Toby loves to bat but he was a bit disappointed in this particular game. I know from experience that it's not easy to pitch a ball to a 7-year-old. The strike zone is tiny.